Fleadh

BELLS TOLL

CELTIC MUSIC

This is the All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann,

the largest gathering of Irish traditional musicians in the world.

For every one of them,

an All-Ireland medal is the ultimate prize.

For these young musicians and their families,

the journey to Derry/Londonderry, the UK City of Culture,

has been years in the making.

Throughout the summer,

qualifying events take place in every county in Ireland.

Here in Tyrone, 278 musicians of all ages compete against their peers,

hoping to win through to the next stage - the provincial final.

They are all members of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann,

the organisation founded in 1957 to preserve a musical tradition

that was almost lost.

The county final is a chance to build confidence

and musical friendships, but for the McKenna family

and many like them, the road to Derry starts here.

James, Sinead and Peter,

for the last four years they've been competing in trio.

Last year it really came together,

they were first-place winners in the Under-15 All Ireland.

It's a nice sense of achievement for them,

given that Peter was 11 and Sinead was 12.

If the McKennas are to defend their title in Derry,

they must win through in first or second place.

Nerves can derail even the most experienced competitor.

Nervous now. I always get nervous in competitions.

I didn't know at the start of the day if I was going to play or not.

I've been in competitions now since I was 11 years of age, and I thought

I might give it a miss for a year, but my father had other ideas.

Keeping me practising was probably the worst thing,

after all the fights and arguments through the years.

After all the years of playing now I do thank him,

for keeping me going when I didn't want to.

HE LAUGHS

12-year-old Una Campbell's chosen instrument is not one usually

associated with traditional music.

I always played traditional music on the tin whistle.

The notes are kind of the same on the tin whistle,

like, the same as the saxophone.

I brought some notes onto the saxophone and started fiddling about

with things, and then Mummy actually taught me a tune on the saxophone.

Then that year we entered the Miscellaneous

and got through the All-Ireland and won the All-Ireland,

so then, just come back this year again and see how I do.

And I give first place to Una, well done.

And the best of luck in Ulster.

And in first place is Tomas Quinn, well done.

In first place, James and Sinead McKenna.

Glad it's all over!

But success in their county Fleadh is only the beginning.

Now these young musicians must face the best in Ulster

at the provincial finals

if they are to realise the dream of competing for the All-Ireland.

And this year, for the first time

since this festival of music began,

the Fleadh will cross the border, to this year's City of Culture,

a city that has always been steeped in music.

HE SINGS IN IRISH

Another musician with his sights firmly set on

this year's Fleadh is singer and composer Lorcan MacMathuna.

Steeped in the tradition of song known as Sean-nos,

he is part of a generation of young musicians taking

traditional music into the 21st century.

Throughout this summer he will work with different

communities from across Derry, as he searches for both words

and musicians to help him create a unique new work which will be

performed as part of the grand opening of this year's Fleadh.

I've been asked to write a cycle of songs which will open the Fleadh.

So this is why I want to talk to you people,

I want you to be part of writing a new song.

'What colour is the Foyle?'

Foyle is red, yellow, pink, blue, orange, purple and green.

I see the Foyle River and it teases me.

I hear the sounds of traffic in the distance,

I smell smoke from houses and cigarette butts, I see

tall, compact buildings reaching towards the permanently grey sky.

Where does the River Foyle go to?

The River Foyle goes to the end of the world.

HE SPEAKS IRISH

CHILDREN SPEAK IRISH

It knows the colour or subject to change, nothing lasts forever.

I'm sure you can't put your hand in the same river twice, but

you can definitely put both hands in the same river at least once.

Everybody has something to say about the river,

nobody's left blank with that one.

It certainly has a... It's perceived anyway,

to have a life and a personality.

So later on this month I'll be coming back with lyrics and a melody

and teaching it to everybody.

Everyone that wants to be part of it.

I didn't actually think the workshops would draw such strong teams for me.

I thought I would be getting a million different stories

and fitting them all together.

What I'm actually finding is that there's a million different

perceptions and stories, all right, but it is the story of one city.

And a river runs through it as well.

This year, London is the venue for the 50th annual All-Britain Fleadh.

Over 400 finalists from Comhaltas branches all over England, Scotland

and Wales will compete for a chance to perform in Derry.

These sons and daughters

of Irish immigrants are part of a vibrant musical tradition overseas,

a tradition that Justin Quinn from Leeds is rediscovering.

'I started playing music, I think, when I was about nine.'

Parents were from Pomeroy in Tyrone and my granda used to play fiddle.

When I was growing up in Leeds the Irish community was a

really big community.

The music was a massive part of Irish culture.

I won the All-Ireland when I was 14, in the 12-15s, and it was...

I think that was the second year I'd entered the Fleadh.

I didn't really understand what I'd achieved...

at that time.

I think I was probably too young to appreciate what winning

the All-Ireland meant.

I think I put the accordion down when I went to university,

and I don't think I picked it up for nearly 20 years.

Coming back to Leeds, having lived abroad in Thailand,

and bumping into Paddy there, who, similar story with the fiddle.

So, Paddy and I kind of egging each other to get back involved.

This is something that was always there and was lacking,

and needs putting back into my life really.

The best way to do that - enter the Fleadh,

cos you've no choice then but to learn some tunes.

Not so much to win the competition,

just not to completely humiliate yourself.

And, erm, that's kind of where we are today.

-PADDY:

-Sounds good.

I'm a bit long in the tooth for entering a competition,

but in another way it's managed to drag Paddy and myself back...

actively to music.

APPLAUSE Justin Quinn.

Once I bought this accordion on eBay I was like,

"Oh, I'm going to have to learn how to play again."

I kind of realised that,

in the 20 years I'd not picked up an accordion,

I'd regularly sat with my fingers drumming, actually playing tunes.

Not just tapping them out

but playing the tunes in quite a stylised way

and I guess interpreting them and still developing as a musician.

'20 years, but nerves, I don't remember nerves being quite so bad.

'I was an indestructible child.'

Second place I give to Justin Quinn.

APPLAUSE

Yep, on the way to Derry,

and the lesson is "do a bit more homework", I think.

The climax of every Fleadh is also its most competitive event -

the Senior Ceili Band Competition.

Hoping to return to the All-Ireland finals are Britain's reigning champions

- the St Roch's Ceili Band from Glasgow.

For Paddy Callaghan, a successful solo artist

and BBC Scotland's Young Traditional Musician of the Year,

the band is a huge part of his life.

'I got involved because my dad had taken me up to classes.

'My older sisters had been already attending those,

'and I knew that by the time I got to four or five

'I would be given a penny whistle

'and go up to the local Comhaltas branch, the Irish Minstrels branch.'

It's hugely important,

particularly to a community

like the one I'm in in Glasgow,

where there's very few ways in which you can express your Irish culture.

'So it's great that the one thing that is accepted is music.'

St Roch's, Irish Minstrels.

So, if they could start making their way to the stage please.

St Roch's Ceili Band is an institution.

I started going out playing ceilis when I was 12 and 13.

It's the most amazing education you can ever get in music.

Going out at that age, performing on a weekly basis...

I mean, you might be playing to 100 women in their eighties, but it's

the experience of doing that and the discipline that it teaches you.

You can put five or six different generations of band on a stage,

never played together before, and they'll start exactly the time

and play the same tunes, any dead stops or variations,

and it'll sound great.

CHEERING

Four points to the Leeds Ceili Band.

'It was a close one at the All-Britain this year,

'it went right down to the last adjudicator.'

Five points to Ceol Agus Craic.

Seven points to St Roch's.

-BAND MEMBERS:

-Woohoo!

That's us through to Derry, so...absolutely delighted.

Yeah, looking forward to it.

DRUMMING

Another musician is hoping his band will qualify for Derry.

Kieran Leonard is already an All-Ireland champion in bodhran

and in drumming.

His band have come close before,

but so far the All-Ireland trophy has eluded them.

Kieran is hoping that this year in Derry it will be their turn.

I suppose going to the first Fleadh I really fell in love with it,

I got hooked on it.

You just start planning your life around what's going on at a Fleadh.

Now this year, I've no solo competitions, and it's

almost like I can really enjoy everything until we get to the bands.

I love the ceili band, it really does mean a lot to me, you know.

I'm lucky in the sense that there's ten of us in that band,

and we're all friends.

Maggie Maguire is a fiddle player in the band,

and she kind of runs it, and her brother Chris is on accordion,

her sister's on flute,

so straightaway you've got a family environment there.

There's a closeness already,

we can rely on every single person in that band.

You practise all year, and your goal is to go to the Fleadh

- this year it's in Derry -

our goal is to go to the Fleadh,

give it a real good shot, and win lose or draw the ten of us

will still be together at the end of it.

With just over a month before the Fleadh begins,

Lorcan is back in Derry with the finished song,

and looking for an orchestra of volunteers.

Well, I went off and took your transcripts

and transcripts from other places as well, and pieced together

what I think is an ode to the city and an ode to the river itself.

It's called I Am the Foyle.

# I have carried many streams

# My streams have carried many people

# I have wrested stories from the twisted plain... #

Working with all of those little snatches I had of people's minds

and trying to get phrases I thought would reveal something about them,

and finding themes within it all that tied together quite well.

So "I am the Foyle" became sort of, the statement of that aim, you know.

# I am memories

# I am an ocean... #

Once I was doing that, the feeling of an anthem came out

very strongly in it.

# I am laden with the rust of history

# I am 1,000 colours

# My depths are bronze and green

# The murky home of man and land

# I am the colours of the sky

# Of greys and purple, of rain and shadow

# Of blues and endless clarity. #

ACCORDION PLAYS

For the McKenna family, this summer

- and every summer - belongs to music.

Myself and Martin both have a great interest in Irish music, we were

never competitive in Irish music but we had a great interest in it.

We're guided by what they like to do,

and when they show an interest in something.

That really has very much brought us on our journey,

in terms of what we do over the summertime.

Peter is moderately deaf, it's called low-tone deafness.

Low tones, he can't hear them, but he can hear very high sounds, so I think

Peter has adapted himself within music to the pitch of instruments.

So he has picked the pipes and the whistle because he knows he can

get the loud tones out of those instruments and the high tones.

The trio started out as really an encouragement arena for Peter.

We can see the music breaking down the barriers for Peter,

because he can feel a sense of achievement by playing

the music and being on the same level playing field

as everybody else in the family.

It's a busy time for Mary and Martin, with six of their seven

children hoping to qualify from the Ulster provincial final.

Well, first of all, my concert flute at 10.00.

There's another competition you're in at number one as well.

It's not 10.00, it's at half 11.

The very best musicians from the

nine counties of Ulster are here, all 2,971 of them.

Throughout this weekend, in competition after competition,

they will play in front of the public

and their peers as the judges choose the winners.

And only those placed in first

and second will get the coveted ticket to Derry.

Over the course of Saturday

and Sunday we have six children competing in...

I think it's 23 competitions in total.

Really and truly I think Sinead doesn't mind how you

get on in the competition, it's, "Let's give it a go."

Sinead likes to play various instruments

and she's exploring various competitions at the moment

in the Fleadh, so it's a case of being organised and prepared

to abide by the Fleadh rules, and be in five places at the one time.

-You got first place in the fiddle.

-Oh!

Erm, duet, you got first place in the duet. So...congratulations!

In first place and also going to the All-Ireland Fleadh in Derry -

Una Campbell, from Pomeroy. APPLAUSE

Another popular winner in the Senior Button Accordion Competition

is Christopher Maguire.

Went in and played the tunes as well as I could play them.

I was very happy with how I performed, but going through

to the All-Ireland, it's another day out for me.

For the next three weeks I'll be locked in a room

practising four tunes.

See where I can add variation, rolls, nothing too loud,

too soft, you know.

'Very nervous, eh? I'll be happy when I get it over.'

I suppose the older you get the harder it is to keep

going into competitions.

After a few years you get fed up with competing.

Whatever happens.

I've managed to get him in so far every year,

but I think this'll be the last.

HE LAUGHS

You'd think I'd be used to it by now. I'm getting worse.

As long as I play well, I'll be happy.

I don't care about places, as long as I play well.

Number four in the programme is Tomas Quinn.

Well, if you sort of get into your own zone

and don't think about anything else, you'll be grand.

But it was still nerve-racking.

In fairness, expect you to get first all the time.

That's all the parents, me included.

I think he's good enough to be up there with the best of them,

so I'd still like him to continue until he wins the All-Ireland.

But as well as dealing with the pressure of competition, Peter has

just discovered that his drones are faulty,

and with no time to fix the problem, he must perform anyway.

I could have done better if I had the drones,

but I'm still lucky to come second place.

It means I've sort of got a second chance, because

if I didn't get second I wouldn't be through to the All-Ireland.

This year has just been one lucky year.

Well, it was a great day, a great Ulster Fleadh,

wonderful standard, in the competitions I could see anyway,

and the children had great success in some of the competitions.

First place today, beautiful performance

- James, Sinead and Peter McKenna.

APPLAUSE

Good stuff, excellent, best of luck in the All-Ireland.

'The big focus after today will be going to Derry for the

'big events, so the caravan will be on the roll again.'

We are waiting at the Ceili Band Competition, first band's on,

second band's pulled out, so we are up next.

So I'm actually ringing the band to let them

know we need to get here sharpish.

Rhona, I'll meet you up the side of the stage, you coming with me?

All eyes will be on the Knockmore Ceili Band.

As reigning champions, they are the ones to beat,

and the competition today has been fierce.

-MC:

-The Knockmore Ceili Band...

CHEERING

At the Seniors you have four tunes,

and there is a serious buzz off them.

Whenever you change tune,

cos you have to do a set of jigs or a set of reels,

once you do that and you hear the hop in the crowd,

when people get excited when you're changing tune,

the hair stands on the back of your neck.

You have to believe you're going to get there,

you have to believe you're going to get through your province.

Our aim is to get to Derry, to get to the All-Ireland.

Whether we're first or second today is not the issue,

we just want to be in Derry.

In second place...

And the winner - Knockmore Ceili Band from Botha.

All yours, Mikey. Come on, let's hear it.

Great, we're through, that's the main thing.

We're through now and we'll see how we get on for Derry.

With just one day left, Lorcan's final preparations are under way.

But getting people together to

rehearse during the summer has been a real problem,

and a number of places in the orchestra have yet to be filled.

And there's a chance that his ambitious plan cannot be

realised in time for tomorrow night's premiere.

All the workshops that went into it beforehand,

they were really about giving all those people

and communities a chance to be part of it.

So right from the start,

getting them involved in the creation of the words, and then, when those

words become music, getting them involved in the expression of it.

I knew very well, you're dealing with all sorts of capabilities,

and larger numbers as well.

You just don't know who's turning up and who's not

and what's here and what's that,

so even with the arrangement there's bits being altered all the time

and bits being changed, and we don't have a harp player,

so will the electric guitar do that?

And all the rest of it.

So it's one of those crazy things where it's still in motion,

as it were, the arrangement process.

It doesn't seem to be ever finished,

it'll be finished after tomorrow night.

I've been chatting to Martin on different occasions

and he just said, "Do you want to be a part of it?"

And I thought, "Brilliant, it's in Derry, the Fleadh's here,

"so why not be a part of something really special and unique?"

I suppose today is the day before the concert,

so this is my first day listening to it, seeing where everything is.

One of the things about the Fleadh and this whole project,

is it's about inclusion.

Irish music, the whole ethos, it's bringing everybody

and welcoming everybody into the process.

People are getting the chance to

play in an orchestra for the very first time.

I hope that just being there, hearing that, in a cathedral,

in that space, will really get them going.

You don't need a pep talk at that stage.

MAN SPEAKS IRISH OVER PA SYSTEM

Indeed, enjoy the Fleadh, enjoy the weather,

thank you and God bless.

Paddy Callaghan...

SHE TRANSLATES INTO IRISH

And what about the Fleadh experience when you were growing up, Paddy?

The Fleadh was always an amazing weekend,

so many great musicians being in the one place for what is without

doubt the biggest party in the world.

CHEERING

My mum was born just six or seven miles down the road and for

every holiday, every chance we could possibly get to come over

to Ireland, it was always spent in Derry.

All my aunts and uncles are dotted around.

And a lot of my family have never been able to see me play.

It's lovely for me to be able to come and play.

To be honest, I never thought I would have seen a Fleadh in Derry,

but it's great to be a part of it.

With Ireland's biggest street party well under way,

a great last-minute effort has gathered the musicians needed

to achieve Lorcan's dream for an orchestra of volunteers.

SPEAKS GAELIC

Harpists, brass players and, most importantly,

a choir arrive just before the performance.

This is a grand plan.

It's a big undertaking to try and get something like that going.

You have to be certain that you're able to do it

before you even start it, you know?

I think this is the first time somebody has actually

commissioned someone to launch a Fleadh.

I'm delighted it was me.

CHOIR SING IN GAELIC

# I am laden with the rust of histories

# I am a thousand colours

# My depths are bronze and green

# The murky home of Mananan... #

The most important thing is that they feel that they

took part in the creation of something, you know?

And that they can feel quite proud of. And they made it start to shine.

# ..the greys and purples of rain and shadow... #

To open it with something that really was composed by everybody,

and, you know, was contributed so much by everybody

and everybody's personalities, that is the Fleadh.

It's completely spontaneous and completely full of fun.

And, you know, everybody making everything work, no matter what.

THE CHOIR SING

It's one of these things that people will look back on in ten years

and say, "I was there, do you remember that?"

This unique occasion.

So, it's fantastic. I'm really happy I'm a part of it.

# Come swing with me

# Don't come to me

# In sorrow. #

APPLAUSE

I feel very proud of everybody here

because I've been with them for a while now.

To see everybody grasp the nettle and go with it

and make something really spectacular out of it, I'm really proud.

APPLAUSE

The applause for this new anthem to Derry spills out into the city.

Another part of a soundscape which fills the streets

as one tune gives way to another.

The Fleadh is mainly about community.

It's about gathering people who enjoy that music together

and letting them play amongst each other.

My father was involved in Comhaltas at the start

when there was a real danger the old traditional music was going

to vanish because it was associated with poverty and backwardness.

He told us we had to go to the first Fleadh with him.

He couldn't believe that there was people playing in the street,

expressing that thing that was their own, a sort of sense of daring.

It's your competition time, Peter. Come on!

-Peter, are you tired?

-Aye.

After the drones broke, we got the drones fixed.

I'm happy about the competition.

It'll probably be a very high standard.

I've met a few people that are against me from America.

And Cork and all of them places.

They're probably better than me, like.

I'm a wee bit nervous but, like, I have to keep my focus

and I'm sure I'll be all right.

Breakfast's being served.

Just to...

..get up there and relax and play as if I was playing at home.

And not worry about it, I suppose.

This weekend, 5,000 musicians from a dozen different countries

will play in over 180 competitions.

All with one goal in mind -

to come home with an All-Ireland medal.

It has taken years of practice and determination just to get here.

And now it all comes down to just a few short minutes.

We have, all the way from Auckland, New Zealand, Siomha Higgins,

a big round of applause for her.

Sinead McKenna from CCE, Clogher Valley, County Tyrone.

Our first prize-winner, congratulations,

Senan O Morain from Portarlington, Contae Laoise.

Smile for the camera.

The pipes are hard to tune at the best of times,

but now the heat in this venue is interfering with Peter's drones.

This almost derailed his performance at the Ulster final.

And he's up next.

This is the best you're going to get now, son.

SMATTERING OF APPLAUSE

I suppose everybody has a certain amount of expectation

when you get into a final.

Peter McKenna from Clogher Valley.

You always hope that going into the competition,

if they sit down, they'll be relaxed,

and that they'll play and enjoy the competition.

There's always that nice sense in all of them of achievement

and the enjoyment of going to compete

on the big stage of the All-Ireland.

Like, all within themselves have an element of hope

that they can take it one step further.

Peter would be very confident and hopeful that maybe, you know,

the adjudicator might think that their style might be good enough.

You just don't know how it goes on the day. We've all had them

experiences before where anything can happen in a competition.

So enjoy the moment.

In the top place today, Peter McKenna from County Tyrone.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

SPEECH DROWNED OUT BY APPLAUSE

These moments don't come very often, it's once-in-a-lifetime,

it's a fantastic achievement.

-Really proud of Peter.

-Good stuff. At last!

The competition, it was an excuse, really.

It was more about showing the children that music can take

you places, and you meet people, and it's fun.

I want them to do it because of what it has meant to me over the years.

Let them listen to fantastic music, let them hear what it should

sound like, gently encourage, and make it fun and a social thing.

And, hopefully, another 25 years, they'll be doing the same.

Number five, Justin Quinn.

OK, thank you.

The competition itself is awful.

That, about having everything relying on five minutes,

whether you forget the tune halfway through

and start playing a different tune in the middle.

It's kind of like running down a hill

faster than you feel comfortable doing it.

It was what it always is.

A painful task.

But, you know, I enjoyed it.

The purpose of it was to bring us to the Fleadh, really.

They've got a taste for it now.

Those five fiddles that are sitting in the house should be

getting picked up when we get home.

We really enjoyed the performance,

so, this year's 2013 All-Ireland Senior Banjo Champion is Tomas Quinn.

WILD CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

I'm over the moon, absolutely delighted.

Good feeling, relief, all the hard work put in has paid off.

I'm thinking about leaving now. That's me.

I've been waiting for that for a long, long time.

I think that'll do me now. I've got an All-Ireland, I'm happy now.

The ceili band competition actually started,

half an hour in there at the moment.

Most of them are up there at the moment.

We are the last to finish after the duet, so...

All right, we're going now.

Heart? Hundred mile an hour job.

I think I've never heard a performance that blew me away

as much as the winner of this competition today.

Flawless performance, especially on a saxophone.

Una Campbell.

I was very nervous for her.

I know how it feels because I used to play in the All-Ireland,

but I was never lucky enough to win a medal.

Have they just started? Have the ceili bands just started?

It says they started at eight o'clock.

Well, if they are number ten, they won't get...

With the Ceili Band competition having overrun,

the McKennas have only just made it back in time

to defend their All-Ireland title in the Trios event.

APPLAUSE

When you go into a competition

it's not about taking home a winner's medal, it's about the taking part.

It's about going in there and enjoying it.

Win, lose or draw, you're still the same musician

going in through the doors as coming out.

Our first prize-winner is the winner of the Trios 12-15,

this year are Amy Ni Mhurchu...

CHEERING

Fleadhs can go one way or the other.

At the end of the day you come home and play your music

and that's what it's all about.

I'm sure they're disappointed, obviously,

but they've got second in the Ceili Band 15-18,

and Peter has won the day,

so they've taken a lot of positives out of it as well.

-Congratulations.

-Thank you.

Number 9 in your programme, Christopher Maguire from Fermanagh.

I've been going to Fleadh these last couple of years.

I've got a couple of seconds, to great accordion players.

Just have to go in and play your four tunes as well as you can.

All the competitors, everyone's at a high standard,

so everybody's looking for the All-Ireland title.

You're in this big, massive room and there's people just watching you.

They're like policemen for music, you know? They're just watching,

and you just have to perform your best, like.

HE PLAYS ACCORDION

You're pulling and pushing buttons and each button is two notes.

Once you learn it at a young age, you'll always have it.

When you're a senior player, you're still learning, at my age, like.

You have to know the song.

You have to put a feeling into the tune.

You have to imagine that you're singing it, in the accordion.

Reel playing, I put down here, was just excellent.

An excellent performance.

First place and this year's All-Ireland Champion

is Christopher Maguire.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

I know what this has meant to him for the last year.

It's been absolutely amazing.

I started crying as soon as they called it out and I couldn't stop.

You can really see it as a huge weight lifting off his shoulders

when he had finished the last note.

Yes!

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

When I heard my name called out I was at the top balcony

and oh, I jumped, nearly four foot. I was over the moon.

I've been knocking on the door for a long time,

I've had three seconds, and I thought, "I have to do it this year."

It's going to be an emotional band whenever he's sitting on stage now!

It's not often a band has got the Senior All-Ireland box champion,

so, eh, I hope that's going to give us a great boost.

MUSIC PLAYS

MUFFLED TANNOY ANNOUNCEMENT

The official estimate of the attendance at the Fleadh this year

is the record, staggering 430,000 people.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

I welcome each and every one, including our guests,

to the Senior Ceili Band competition.

CEILI BAND PLAYS

This is the event that crowns and closes the Fleadh every year.

The one the crowds flock to.

The Senior Ceili Band competition.

See once you hit the All-Ireland bands, there's not a bad band in it.

They're all savage bands.

It is completely down to the five adjudicators what they want to do.

MUFFLED CHATTER

There is a good wee rivalry between all of us.

It is kind of cut-throat when it comes down to it.

Friendships and relationships can be put aside for an hour or two.

I always think back to the first year

I competed in the Senior All-Ireland competition.

It was the first time we'd really played in a venue that size

with the TV cameras on you and everything.

Now, have we St Roch's Ceili Band all the way from Glasgow?

We got on stage, started playing, couldn't hear a thing.

I couldn't hear myself, couldn't hear any of the rest of the band.

It was awful.

And now this is my eighth in a row.

Last year I let the emotion get to me.

Because it was the first time I thought the band

had really done itself justice at that level.

I started crying after the jigs. I came off in floods of tears.

I'm going to try and keep my emotions in check this year.

The competition itself is unlike anything else you can think of.

Everyone that's in the competition is there

because they want to be Senior Ceili Band champions.

Many won't admit it,

but that's definitely the goal at the start of the year.

Our version of the tradition

isn't the same as you would get here in Derry

or in other regions of the country.

We've got our own kind of style on it.

Scottish music's huge where we're from,

and it's inevitable that there'll be wee bits of it that'll creep in.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

For us, we are custodians of a tradition overseas, I suppose.

Thank you.

I think it went quite well.

Pretty pleased.

No-one's in tears, so that's a good sign.

Thank you.

Now could we have Knockmore Ceili Band,

Fermanagh, please?

The last couple of years we went into the All Ireland,

we gave a really good account of ourselves.

There will be pressure, of course,

cos there's going to be 2,000 people watching you.

You have four tunes, and I start them.

I'm the one that gives the intro to the taps

and starts the band off, so that's a wee bit of pressure.

OK.

See once you play the first one, the rest of it falls into place.

We do it for each other.

That's it, I suppose. First and foremost,

it's for the ten of us in that band.

We do it for each of us.

The Senior Ceili Bands, it is the Holy Grail.

If you look at the All Ireland Fleadh, the Ceili Bands,

the Senior Ceili Bands is the most competition of anyone

out of the whole Fleadh.

You'd love to be standing on the stage at the end of the night

with that trophy, you know?

But at the end of the day, it's all down to who's sitting at the table.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Thank you, Fermanagh.

A wee bit quick, like. That's down to me, too.

I started it and everything else took off.

I probably started it a fraction quick,

and it just went...it went on.

But saying that, I know it was fast, but we held it together very well.

It probably wouldn't be our best performance,

but in the end it's just on the day, isn't it?

We have a recall.

This is a very rare occurrence - two bands have tied.

Moylurg and Knockmore.

CHEERING

Now both bands must go head-to-head.

One tune is all that stands between them and All-Ireland glory.

CHEERING

CHEERING

Thank you. Thank you, Ros Comain.

Now if we can have Knockmore on stage, please.

CHEERING

CHEERING

And in second place we have Knockmore.

You know the winners now, in first place,

2013 Ceili Band Winners, Moylurg.

CHEERING

Second band, come on stage.

I really, really wanted it.

You know, I'd been there or thereabouts the last couple of years,

and I really wanted it.

One, two, three...

CHEERING

We said, you know, we've gave it a good shot, we've played our best.

If that's enough, it is. If not, we'll try again.

Thanks for cheering.

It's more the music that binds everyone, not the competition.

Obviously the competition is music and it's got a part in it,

but it's more as a chance to see these people -

people that want to play tunes.

They just want to play music.

And they'll do it all again next year.

Derry's Fleadh is almost over.

Next summer belongs to Sligo.

But the city and all who came here will never forget.

The journey for the competitors and their families is over for now,

but the friendships and the music will endure.

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