Siobhan Long - CCE O’Murchu Interview

Some people might have seen this interview with Labhras O’Murchu in today’s Irish Times by Siobhan Long.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2009/0220/1224241479672.html

Read the interview before posting cause it really is ridiculous.

Talk about a cake walk. What a wonderful opportunity to take a look into the dealings of this organisation and its head honcho. And Siobhan Long wastes it!

It is as if she went in and said to Labhras ‘Just Talk about Comhaltas’. Here we read the same old stuff about Comhaltas’s aims and it being responsible for a lot of great musicians. Time and again we have seen the same stuff peddled about. We are never given an in depth view of what they are actually doing, only what they aspire to do.

This isnt an interview, it is an advertisement. It is basically giving a stage to someone, not actually finding out new information. Shame on you Long!!!

“jazz musicians improvise in exactly the same way that traditional musicians do, with the grace notes. So there was always this connection between traditional and jazz music.”

This guy is an eedjit. First of all, jazz music is barely 100 years old. Second, traditional Irish musicians play tunes. Jazz musicians start with a musical idea (standard piece or not) and then make up their own melodies. It has absolutely nothing to do with grace notes or any other kind of ornamentation. Variations in Irish tunes give interest to the melody, they don’t become the tune. What a knucklehead.

Ya think?

This dingbat also says: “That means acknowledging regional styles of music, for example. We need to cultivate them ….. "

This, from the very people who discouraged the use of Polkas & Slides in their competitions & would not even allow that { “bad Scottish” } regional music from Donegal to be played!

Aye, surely wonderful ways to acknowledge & cultivate. 🙁

Haven’t they in fact done more, or at least as much, to destroy regional styles, as any other factor in their demise?

Which reminds me, have you been following the Comhaltas worshipping threads over on Mudcat, recently?

Should O Murchu resign from Comhaltas?:

http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=118630&messages=55

Comhaltas Interruptus:

http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=109486#2311879

Cheers
Dick

Interesting article involving CCE accounts here:

TRADITIONAL MUSIC BODY ACCUSES FG OF VENDETTA’ OVER FUNDING CLAIMS

EOIN BURKE-KENNEDY and STEPHEN COLLINS

COMHALTAS CEOLTOIRI Eireann (CCÉ), the agency that promotes traditional music, has accused Fine Gael of conducting “a vendetta” against it in claiming its State funding lacked transparency.
The organisation’s director general Senator Labhras Ó Murchú (FF) said he was astounded by suggestions from Fine Gael’s arts spokeswoman Olivia Mitchell TD that secrecy surrounded the millions of euro given annually by the State to CCÉ. He said their accounts were externally audited and certified by the relevant government departments and he could not understand why Ms Mitchell was “politicising what is essentially a voluntary cultural movement”.
On Sunday, Ms Mitchell said it was astonishing no one in Government even seemed to know how much CCE was getting with one Minister stating it received €5 million in 2007 and his predecessor saying that that figure was €7 million.
She welcomed the promised transparency for CCE accounts as they will soon have to be made publicly available, but called for equal clarity from the Government.
“When the Charities Bill becomes law later this year, Comhaltas Ceoltóiri Éireann, as an organisation that will enjoy charitable tax exemption under the terms of the Bill, will be obliged to publish its annual accounts.”
Ms Mitchell said she had long been seeking information on behalf of the public about how the considerable State money CCE received was actually spent but neither the organisation, nor the Minister dispensing the funds, had been willing to give any such information or to publish their accounts. “This kind of secrecy surrounding public money is unacceptable and particularly so when the organisation is headed up by an elected representative of the ruling political party. It is a pity that it takes a change in legislation to enforce the kind of transparency that is in everyone’s interests,” she said.
But Mr Ó Murchú said the figures were published in the annual accounts which are made available to all 400 units of the organisation in the State. Copies of those accounts are sent to government departments and management reports were made to the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs on a quarterly basis, he said.
He called on Ms Mitchell to withdraw the suggestion of secrecy and apologise to CCE members and to him personally. In her statement,
Ms Mitchell said CCE branches throughout the country and abroad did important and vital work promoting Irish music and culture but that did not obviate the need for transparency in the use of public funds.
“Last year the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism gave €6 million and the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs gave €1.9 million.”The Department of Foreign Affairs also funds some activities abroad and other public monies may also find its way to Comhaltas
Ceoltóiri Éireann but, without any publicised accounts, we simply don’t know. In replies to my parliamentary questions, Minister [Martin] Cullen stated the 2007 funding was €5 million but his predecessor the late Séamus Brennan asserted he had given them €7 million," she said.

Firstly I wonder how much Mr and Mrs Larry are paid on top of his political pay including expenses….
Secondly I still wonder if Ms Long winded really exists or is she a made up name to try to show that the IrishTimes is big enough to have a dedicated correspondent to cover Traditional music, when in reality its covered by a number of people ie who ever is available on the day , who are told to write as flowery and as none confrontational style as possible,fill up some space.

Why don’t RTÉ’s Primetime Investigates run an exposé on the Dictator Lábhras Ó Murchú??

That figure of 7 million is wrong ’cos my local branch ran a coffee morning last week in aid of Ceoltas and raised another 50 odd euro. I gave it a miss on principle but now I know I should have picketed the venue.

bazouki Dave, Ms Long does actually exist. She’s really a pop music journalist who stumbled into the trad job at the Times. You’ll see her reviewing middle of the road pop music in the paper from time to time.

A few year back I noticed a glowing review of a George Michael concert and guess who the reviewer was? That should tell you all you need to know about her…………….

COMHALTAS CEOLTOIRI Eireann (CCÉ), the agency that promotes traditional music, has accused Fine Gael of conducting “a vendetta” against it in claiming its State funding lacked transparency.

CCÉ is not an agency - it is an organisation with a self appointed Director (for life!). The agency designed to promote the trad arts is the arts council - yet their trad arts budget allocated by Government is a fraction of what CCÉ get from gov.