Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [141]
The causes he has championed – Travellers, antinuclear protests, South Africa, Northern Ireland – might give one the wrong impression: Christy is equally at home singing tender love songs (Nancy Spain), haunting ballads (Ride On), comic ditties (Lisdoovarna) and bizarre flights of lyrical fancy (Reel in the Flickering Light). He was also influential as a member of Planxty and Moving Hearts, as Ireland experimented during the 1970s and 1980s with its traditional musical forms to combine folk, rock and jazz in a heady and vibrant fusion.
Born in 1945, Moore grew up the son of a grocer and was influenced early in his musical career by a Traveller, John Riley. He was denied the musical opportunities he craved in Ireland and left in 1966 for England, where he quickly became popular on the British folk scene in Manchester and West Yorkshire.
Moore’s first big break came with Prosperous (named after the Kildare town), on which he teamed up with the legendary Donal Lunny, Andy Irvine and Liam O’Flynn. They went on to form Planxty and recorded three ground-breaking albums.
Moore has done much to breathe life into traditional music. His work is always entertaining but like any good pub ballad, there’s far more to his lyrics than you might first suspect. He’s passionate, provocative and distinctive; you’ll hear the influences of others as diverse as Jackson Browne and Van Morrison.
Certainly, even as he curtails his live performances to write, he is an iconic figure among Irish trad musicians and fans. He has built an international reputation as a writer and interpreter of a living tradition, at the head of the table of Irish traditional music.
Recommended listening: The Christy Moore Collection, 1981-1991.
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Sleeping
Silken Thomas ( 045-522 232; www.silkenthomas.com; Market Sq; s/d from €40/65; ) This local institution includes clubs, bars and an 18-room hotel. There’s a modern wing and an 18th-century town house. Rooms are unfrilly but comfortable; try for one away from the action.
Derby House Hotel ( 045-522 144; www.derbyhousehotel.ie; s/d €55/95; ) This old hotel has 20 decent rooms right in the centre of town. It’s an easy walk from here to bars, restaurants and all the St Brigid lore you could hope for.
Martinstown House ( 045-441 269; www.martinstownhouse.com; The Curragh; s/d from €125/190; mid-Jan–mid-Dec; ) This beautiful 18th-century country manor is built in the frilly Strawberry Hill Gothic style and set in a 170-acre estate and farm surrounded by trees. The house has four rooms filled with antiques; children are banned – darn. You can arrange for memorable dinners in advance (€55); ingredients are drawn from the kitchen garden.
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ST BRIGID
St Brigid is one of Ireland’s best-known saints, hailed as an early feminist but also known for her compassion, generosity and special ways with barnyard animals. Stories about her are both many and mythical. All agree that she was a strong-willed character: according to one legend, when her father chose her an unwanted suitor, she pulled out her own eye to prove her resolve never to wed. After she had taken her vows, and was mistakenly ordained a bishop rather than nun, her beauty was restored. Another has her being shipped off to a convent after she compulsively gave away the family’s wealth to the poor. (One tale even has Brigid being spirited to Ireland from Portugal by pirates.)
Brigid founded a monastery in Kildare in the 5th century for both nuns and monks, which was unusual at the time. One lurid account says it had a perpetual fire tended by 20 virgins that burned continuously until 1220 when the Bishop of Dublin stopped the tradition, citing it as ‘un-Christian’. The supposed fire pit can be seen in the grounds of St Brigid’s Cathedral where a fire is lit on 1 February, St Brigid’s feast day. Nonvirgins are welcome.
Brigid was a tireless traveller, and as word of her many miracles spread, her