Danny Meehan, this year's recipient of the TG4 Cradam Ceoil Hall Of Fame award.
Fiddle players from around the county will tell you that when Danny Meehan returned to his native Drimalost four years ago, having spent 53 years abroad, he brought with him many tunes from the foothills of the Bluestacks that hadn’t been heard in decades.
The renowned fiddle player will ‘hit the road’ up to Dunlewey’s Ionad Cois Locha on July 10 to perform at a very special concert as part of this year’s 24th Earagail Arts Festival.
Trad Tráthnóna and the Earagail Arts Festival are proud to present this year’s Gradam Ceoil TG4 Lifetime Achievement award recipient in concert with some very special guests.
Danny left his native Donegal at the age 16 with £3 in his pocket, ‘full of adventure’ and wanting to see the world. “It was a natural turn of events in those days, I was full of adventure and although I did miss the people, I didn’t mind leaving at the time,” he said.
Having grown up in a thatched cottage on the foothills of the Bluestacks, Danny settled in London in 1963, after moving around England and Wales.
He played with legendary figures from all over Ireland including Bobby Casey, Jimmy Power, Julia Clifford, Lucy Farr, PJ Crotty, Con Curtin and Roger Sherlock.
He also joined up with a group of musicians who went by the title Le Chéile, formed in the early 1970s by regulars at the sessions in The White Hart pub in Fulham Broadway.
The beautiful Donegal melodies that Danny learned in his formative years have stood the test of time for one simple reason, he said: “Like fresh spring water, a pure melody cannot be improved, but there’s a lot of great new tunes out there, as well.”
Danny will be joined his nephew Fr Seamus Gallagher on flute and sister Rosie on banjo/fiddle. Nell Ní Chróinín from Béal Átha an Ghaothaidh in the Múscraí Gaeltacht in Cork, the youngest ever recipient of the TG4 Singer Of The Year Award, will also be performing.