Composer’s legacy speaks for itself on radio

O’Riada’s iconic radio series is now being rebroadcast to mark 40 years since his death,says Colette Sheridan

SEÁN Ó Riada’s contribution to Irish traditional music is being celebrated in a rebroadcast of his ground-breaking radio series from the 1960s, Our Musical Heritage. The series is being revisited on Peter Browne’s RTÉ Radio One programme, The Rolling Wave, to mark the 40th anniversary of Ó Riada’s death. It features musicians and composers who discuss each broadcast. The composer’s son, Peadar Ó Riada, contributed to the programme last week. The series kicked off with an introduction by Eamon de Buitleár, who was a member of Ó Riada’s traditional band, Ceoltóirí Chualann. This coming Sunday, Connemara sean nós singer and member of the all-female band, Liadan, Síle Denvir, will be Browne’s guest. Future guests include east Munster sean nós singer, Áine Ní Cheallaigh, and musician, Liam Ó Maonlaí.

As Browne says, Our Musical Heritage was hugely important. “Nobody else had done this, discussing traditional music and looking at what was coming out of the different regions. Ó Riada delved into the different ways of playing in places like Cork, west Limerick, Donegal, west Clare, east Clare, Sligo and north Connacht.”

Ó Riada had the background to seriously analyse music, says Browne. “He had three things going for him. He was a jazz pianist, a brilliant classical composer and had a strong background in traditional music. He was able to draw on these strands for his analysis.”

Ó Riada arrived onto a post-war Ireland scene opening up thanks to better communications and the rural electrification scheme. There was an explosion of folk music from the likes of Woody Guthrie and Ewan McColl. “Suddenly, there was an interest in not just the music, but also the performer,” Browne says. Our Musical Heritage is “slightly academic. It would be easy to cut out that element but it was decided that the whole series should be rebroadcast,” he says. Apart from being broadcast in 1963, the only other airing it had was in a digested form on three LPs and a booklet written by musician, Tomás Ó Cannain.

“There’s a lot of interest in the series, particularly from third-level academic institutions where traditional music is studied. The series also gives listeners a chance to hear Ó Riada talking. There’s an awful lot of talk about him. In Our Musical Heritage, he speaks directly. Ó Riada travelled around the country to make the series. John Kelly, who was a trusted member of Ceoltóirí Chualann, gave him advice along the way as they recorded musicians,” he says.

In each half-hour programme, Ó Riada plays the recordings made from his travels. He sits at a piano, illustrating what he talks about. “He might play a sean nós singer and then describe the kind of ornamentation the singer used. It’s an analytical description. There might possibly be a limit to the broadness of the programme’s appeal, but people could well be sucked into it. It’s a particular section of the history of traditional music which is brought to life and given a bit of context,” Browne says.

Browne asks his guests to choose a piece of music they think Ó Riada would have liked, to imagine what Ó Riada would have achieved if he hadn’t died at such a young age. He achieved so much in 40 years, including the founding of Ceoltóirí Chualann, the composition of the score for the film, Mise Eire, broadcasting, lecturing in UCC, working as musical director for the Abbey Theatre and also working as assistant musical director at Radio Eireann.

“Before he died, Ó Riada was full of plans. He was interested in comparing what he called mainstream European classical music and traditional Irish music. I think that he would have gone on to examine Indian music. A lot of people were hung up on the idea that this was the man who synthesised traditional music and classical music. But I think he had moved on in his head. He was interested in something new and different. I’m sure he would have explored Indian music and brought it to people’s attention,” Browne says. Ó Riada may have been drawn to world music.

The composer “arrived at a particular time. He wasn’t just interested in music. He was also interested in literature and film. I think he created a different type of cultural awareness at a particular time. During the 50th anniversary of the 1916 Rising, there was an awakening; a different type of national consciousness. Ó Riada epitomised that. He was at the centre of it, but not in an obvious way,” he says.

Browne says that Ó Riada changed the course of Irish music. “Prior to Ceoltóirí Chualannn, there were really only ceilí bands. Creating a way in which individual players could be heard in an ensemble context was an act of genius.”

* The Rolling Wave, featuring the rebroadcast of Our Musical Heritage, is on RTÉ Radio One on Sundays at 10pm.