Gleeson's of Coore : end of a session

Trad Irish Music
1

On the 17th of october 2004 one of the great houses of traditional music closed it’s doors for the last time. Gleeson’s of Coore has ceased trading.

Nell and Jimmy Gleeson’s pub and shop in Coore was a centre for the social life of the country area around Coore, between Mullagh and Miltown Malbay in West Clare. The history of the pub goes back 124 years, five generations of the Gleeson family have been involved in running it. The place is inseparably connected to the music of Junior Crehan who, with his musical partner Josie Hayes, first played there seventy years ago. It was in 1978 however when Nell and Jimmy took charge of the place and extended the pub that the Sunday night in Gleeson’s became a permanent refuge for the group of musicians around Junior.
Every Sundaynight there was music in the house, music to listen but also to dance to, there were always sets danced and after the music there would be singing and sometimes a recitation. It was one of few places left where music dance and singing was integrated in the life rather than being a commodity to bring in the punters.

When I re-located to Clare in 1996 I became a regular of the place. I went every Sundaynight to sit in a quiet corner to listen to Junior and ‘the band’. To soak up the music. After a while though word got out I was a piper and there was considerable pressure to make me join the band. In the end I did, playing the tin whistle most of the time. Hundreds of nights I spent there since, playing music. There are stories and memories, acts of great kindness and a memory of always being made welcome, music, wild nights, happiness and sadness shared.

Tom Munnelly, himself a regular for over thirty years, called the demise of Gleeson’s the end of an era when the news broke last August the license was to be sold and the place was to finish. A piece of history, a link to the past irreparably severed.

It’s hard to describe the general feeling these last few weeks, the disbelief it was all to end. There were late nights, we stayed and weathered it, to get the most out of it. Tunes were played and songs sung late into the night. Finally, tears were shed at the end.

For the final Sundaynight the place filled up with musicians determined to get the last tunes in. A group of the regulars which included Jackie Daly playing the accordeon, Mike Dyer and Maura Keane and Frank Brunel (who flew in especially from Paris) playing flutes, myself playing whistle, Ado Morris playing guitar, Susie Cox playing the concertina, Julie Hennigan played fiddle (coming over from Missouri for it) played for a few hours, the final sets were danced. Denis Doody came from Shannon and despite ill health played some wonderful Sliabh Luachra accordeon music. I took the pipes out to play with Kitty Hayes, joined on a few tunes by Joe McCaw on concertina. Kitty and myself played ‘The Hills of Coore’ (among many other tunes), the tune Junior Crehan composed in honour of the house.
Josephine Marsh played beautifully as usual, accompanied on guitar by Maurice Coyle. There was singing, Ollie Conway was mighty, Tom Munnelly, Kitty Hayes and many others put in their few lines.

I took a lot of photographs, on occasional visits during the late 80s and early 90s, during my first period there, then there was a period it was more important just being there playing music. Over the past few weeks, I brought the camera along again, snapping the goings on. I leave you with a random selection of images of some of the the musicians that came to play with us , singers who sang for us during the past six weeks or so. Many of the regulars of the session are not included here, Conor keane and his wife Maire, Eamonn Cotter, Eamonn McGivney, John Joe Tuttle, Sean Mcnamara of the Liverpool ceiliband, Jaqui McCarthy, singer Vincent Boyle, they should have been there but space just doesn’t permit it.
Those who were there cherish the memory and regret it’s passing. A great debt of gratitude is owed to Nell and Jimmy and the Gleeson family for having us.

Photographs taken down on 6 nov 2004

2

:sniffle:

That does it. You have to move to the Chicago suburbs. I’ll help you find a place.

3

Real shame, thanks for the pictures.

4

Lovely photos but sad news. What’s the reason for the closure, Peter?

5

Peter, I just love your photography… what wonderful pictures! How sad that such a place has closed. :frowning:

6

Country pubs like this one are unfortunately no longer viable in modern Ireland. Between new regulations and laws, the cost of insurance and taxes it is no longer possible to run pubs as they have been run for so long (often as a sideline, alongside a farm or other business). In this case Nell and Jimmy wanted to retire after nearly 30 years in the same place (having owned the Crosses of Annagh before 1978), their son just couldn’t make ends meet.
Add to that the fact the urban ‘superpubs’ and off licences are offering serious money (up to 200 K) for a license it is not surprising a lot of small pubs are selling up.
Over the past month in this area alone music pubs like Quelly’s in Miltown Malbay and Conway’s in Mullagh have finished forgood. ANd that’s only in a very small area.

7

I feel lucky and priviledged in that I had the chance to visit Gleeson’s shortly before it closed. In early September I went to a couple of Sunday sessions there, listened to the music and saw the sets danced. I can hardly describe the impression it made on me, the real way in which music and life was connected.

On stage: Susie Cox, Jackie Daly, Peter Laban, Ado Morris. In front of the stage I recognize the back of Mike Dyer on flute. On the right the table with the set dancers.

Peter and Kitty Hayes doing their set in C.

Susie Cox, Peter, and Ado Morris getting in some last tunes before closing time.

I felt myself like a bystander at first, on those two nights at Gleesons’. Then to speak to the musicians and regulars, to be drawn in and to be a tiny little part of it, was wonderful. I was made welcome in a gentle and understated way, and I will cherish the memory of conversations and tunes I had there.

8

You’re lucky you ducked when I pointed the lens at you, you’d have your cover blown too :smiley:

9

:slight_smile: I know it, too.

I should have pointed out your camera bag in picture with Kitty. :wink:

10

Awful lot of microphones in that session. Were they recording it?

11

What cherished memories for so many - wish I was one of them. Thanks for sharing the thoughts and photos Peter and Bloo.

Susan

12

No the only recording implement I can see is Bloomfields little blue minidisc.

Three microphones is not a lot, it’s a big place and some nights when the house was full or noisy we’d play amplified. If you want the flat pipes and the concertina to carry to the far corners three was hardly adequate anyway.

The soundsystem was upgraded a few years ago, the old one was very atmospheric, there were several occasions when Junnior Crehan 's playing of a slow air was interrupted by voices from Russian radio stations, accidently plucked from the airwaves by the amplification.

13

In our corner of the world, sessions are almost always unamplified. Which means that we usually fight a losing battle against the pub noise. Pipes and box are usually the only things that cut through; you lose the fiddles, flutes, whistles, mandolins, etc. Amplification would bring other kinds of problems, though, such as who-gets-the-microphone. But i can see how it would work nicely if you have a small and fairly constant group, with great players.

14

I think the big difference is that this “session” was also meant for dancers, so you’d need some amplication anyway. Most of the sessions in Ireland arent amplified (as far as I remember), unless you’re in a over touristy area like Doolin.

15

Yup, this makes sense. Peter posted pretty much the same explanation, but it’s gone now. I hope he didn’t think he had offended in any way.

It’s very sad when the natural habitat for this kind of music we love is slowly disappearing. But the music and musicians will adapt and go on.

16

Peter, how many places are left in your immediate area that still house sessions, or provide a place for these people to get out and play together?

17

I think there are two things: If a pub in Miltown Malbay closes, a bit of tradition is lost and perhaps a perticular style and flavor, but there will be other places to play the music.

With the rural pubs, like Gleeson’s, it’s not just that. There is also this tiny little shop attached to it (the pub only operating Sunday nights) and Peter told me there are old people living right there who have bought their bread at Gleeson’s and gone dancing there on Sunday nights for the past forty years. They’ll have to make it into town or depend on others now. That’s the really sad part. As for the music, I believe there is already another pub they will move to. But will the set dancers be able to make it there?

18

There are places where you can play but it’s not quite the same. in places like Gleeson’s, Conway’s etc there was music always, even when it was not the thing to do. This is where music survived, and there’s more to it than just music, it’s traditional culture, the dance, the singing, the recitations it was all part of the fabric of the place. There are places where they have gigs but you know they couldn’t care less, you’ll be dropped as soon as the punters fancy something else. In Gleeson’s you were welcome, I can honestly not remember the last time they accepted money from me for a drink, there is any amount of stories of people coming into the shop to buy the bread, finding the last loaf gone and Nell running into the kitchen to give them one of her own fresh baked loaves. I went up this morning to drop over a few prints of photographs taken, my little boy left with more chocalate bars than he could eat. This was more than a business.
Josephine Marsh was saying how she used to be brought up there for the WIllie week (she lives just up the road now), being called up on stage by Junior as a 13 year old and coaxed into playing a few tunes, the atmosphere of encouragement that was always there.
If you played there you knew you’d be listened to in detail, they might have appeared to be talking but every little things was taken in, it was the most appreciative audience you can think of, the most daunting too once you sussed the depth of their appreciation of the music.
Last weekend there was your typical trad fest in Doonbeg. They put on a concert and have people playing in pubs. I went down on the (bankholiday) monday afternoon to play with Brid Donoghue and Dympna O Sullivan. I played for an hour or two (and the music was lovely) and left again, the noise the drinkers, playing in most pubs I generally feel we may as well not have been there. There’s more to it than having a bar to play diddly music in to amuse the drinkers.
In that context I was quite uneasy with labelling this thread ‘end of a session’, it was the end of so much more.

19

Peter, you had mentioned earlier something about some larger concern buying Gleesons’ license. Is there some sort of limit on the number of licenses? Is it a limit on a national scale that someone in one town or city would want to buy out a license in another town? Old references to Ireland state that at one time every second house in every village was a pub. I guess we get mixed messages here.

Why wouldn’t one/some of the musicians in the area who care about maintaining the atmosphere as well as the music pitch in to start a session in their own pub, or in a community hall, if a pub atmosphere is objectionable? If its the “grass roots” element of the music that you are concerned with saving, then it must be a “grass roots” effort that is going make that happen.

djm

20

I asked the same questions about pub licenses when I was there. They told me that the law limit the total no of licenses out there (to reduce drunkenness). But there is no local connection. So you can imagine what a license used to run a touristy pub in Dublin is worth compared to a license used to open up the bar on night a week for music, dancing and singing for the locals of rural Clare. A big brewer has probably bought Gleeson’s license and they’ll use it in Dublin or someplace big and urban.

Apparently there is talk of changing the law again (the current rule is not that old). Instead of relieving it, that would create short term pressure to sell the (rural) licenses now while they are still worth 200K.