Music and Claddagh

He didn’t ‘revive’ Irish traditional music, but without Garech Browne it certainly wouldn’t have happened in the vigorous way it did, or have the international influence that essentially he brought to it. He brought his knowledge and passion for Irish music and poetry to an international audience; his influence galvanised ‘stars’ to bring traditional music and musicians to the world stage, and in the process, he left a legacy of priceless recordings of pipers and poets on his imprint, Claddagh Records.

It began with a discussion between the 19-year-old Garech and his friend Ivor Browne (the eminent psychiatrist and no relation) when they were both students of the famous Dublin piper Leo Rowsome. Rowsome could find no record company willing to record his unique music.

In his book, Luggala, The Story Of A

Guinness House, Robert O’Byrne quotes Garech Browne as having a conversation with his cousin, Caroline Blackwood, about founding a record company and a publishing house, but as Liam Millar had already set up the Dolmen Press, there was no need for the latter.

“What I thought was that all around Ireland at that moment were showbands, which, by and large, made a pretty frightful noise, and I thought if we did what we can do, which is traditional music, then it would be better for us,” Garech told him.

Claddagh Records was launched before Garech had inherited Luggala from his mother and was living in a mews in Dublin. Ri

na Piobairi — The King of the Pipers — a 40-minute vinyl of Rowsome’s virtuoso pipe playing, was its first recording, although the company itself wasn’t incorporated until the following year, 1960.

Under the influence of the poet John Montague, its second recording was of Patrick Kavanagh reading his own poetry. Shortly before his death, Sean O Riada, who had been instrumental in forming the pioneering traditional music group Ceoltoiri Chualann, recorded what became known as O’Riada’s Farewell, which was released after his premature death.

But while these were critically acclaimed and cultural landmarks, it was with the recording of The Chieftains — musicians specifically put together by Garech Browne because of their musical expertise — that Claddagh Records brought traditional music to a level nobody had dreamed of. The label’s distinctive LPs, with sleeves designed by Eddie Delaney and Louis Le Brocquy, were bestsellers, and were imbued with everything that was excellent about well-played and well-recorded traditional music.

The Chieftans recorded four albums with Claddagh before ‘moving on’, although Garech Browne remains inextricably bound up with the group. The list of international collaborations is like a who’s-who of the music business.

The group became world ambassadors not only for their music, but for the country itself.

Over the years, musicians like Tommy Potts, Liam O’Flynn, Matt Molloy, Christy Moore, and Ronan Browne were recorded and released under the Claddagh label. Garech Browne, who had developed a love of classical music as a child, also released a recording of the classical String Quartet in C Minor by the Irish composer Freddie May, 38 years after it was originally written.

It wasn’t only music — writers and poets such as Seamus Heaney, Derek Mahon, Austin Clarke, Ted Hughes, Liam O’Flaherty, Robert Graves and John Montague, were all recorded reading their own works. The actor Jack MacGowran recorded Samuel Beckett’s poems.

Claddagh Records is still in existence, and its back catalogue is a truly historic archive.

“I think Garech in a way is uniquely responsible for world acceptance of Irish music, Irish culture,” Angelica Huston, who knew Browne all her life, told Robert O’Byrne.

Without Claddagh, it is hard to envisage Irish music having the international influence that it has today.