PAT
FINN(1916- ) FLUTE PLAYER.
Pat Finn was born
in Buckhill, near Frenckpark, Co. Roscommon, on the 4th of November,
1916. His father's name was John and his mother's was Ann (nee
Towey). His father's people were from Buckhill and his mother's
people came from Lisacul, in Co. Roscommon. She was related to
the blind piper Gorman, from near Gortaganny in West Roscommon,
a famed musician in the area.
Pat attended school from 1921, until 1932. At that time it was
usual to stay at school until sixteen. Pat was never taught to
play music, and says he just 'picked it up'. It was a great flute
playing area in which Pat lived, and musicians met and played
at county house dances. These would all be within three to four
miles, or walking distance. Local musicians at that time included
Michael Gara, Luke Maree and Tom Egan, all flute players and John
Farrell, from Sheepwalk, who played the accordion. Pat would learn
new tunes from the recordings of Coleman, Morrison and McKenna
in the 1920' s. There was no gramophone in the Finn household,
but Pat would go to town and hear the records being played in
the shop. He only needed to hear the tune a couple of times to
be able to reproduce it himself
Pat went to England in 1936, aged nineteen. Initially he went
to Manchester and worked there in construction. In Manchester
at the time, traditional music could be heard in dance halls and
in pubs, Pat recalls the music as being of a far better standard
than at home. The musicians around Manchester at that time, included
Raftery, from Ballyhaunis and Tom Hussey, from Galway. Pat then
went to Belfast and stayed for a while in the Falls Road. There
was little opportunity for music in Belfast and a low profile
was adopted to avoid conscription. He also worked around Co. Derry,
for a year in Bellaghy, Magherafelt and Maghera. He played with
a Ceili Band in Deny and his brother, John, another flute player,
was in a different Ceili Band also in Derry. John passed away
a long time ago.
Pat returned to England in 1943, this time to London. He stayed
there until 1960. Traditional Music could be heard in dance halls
all over London during these times. The Gaelic League used to
run Ceilis, and some dance halls were strictly Ceili. The musicians
playing during this time, that Pat met, included Julia and John
Clifford, from Kerry, Jim Quinn, from Galway, Martin Wynne, Joe
Dowd and Edmund Murphy all fiddle players, from Sligo, Paddy Taylor,
from Limerick and brothers Mick and Peter Flynn, a flute and fiddle
duet, from Tubbercurry, Co. Sligo.
In 1960 Pat went north and started to play with the Liverpool
Ceili Band and was with them for twenty five years. Four
of the band are now in Ireland, one in Canada, one in Liverpool
and the other four are deceased. The Liverpool Ceili Band won
the All-Ireland title twice, in Mullingar, in 1963, and in Clones,
in 1964. At that time the standard of competition was very high.
The band played nearly every night around Liverpool, including
English Folk Clubs, and travelled to different parts of the country
even playing at the London Palladium. They made two records with
Decca. This was organised by Kevin Fogarty, an executive with
Aer Lingus. The recording took two days.They made a trip to America
in 1967 playing in Boston and New York. They met musicians there
such as Martin Wynne, the Flynns, Paddy Cronin, Andy McGann, Larry
Redigan and Bobby Gardiner. Pat also made the trip with Comhaltas,
in 1974 to Tripoli in Libya, which lasted for nine to ten days.
Pat returned to live in Ireland in 1979. He is still playing music,
mainly on the whistle nowdays, and he attends, and plays at all
the local sessions. He still travels to various traditional music
events around the country.
