Via The Journal Of Music: The Donegal fiddle player Dinny McLaughlin passed away in December. Liz Doherty, a former pupil, writes about his contribution to Irish traditional music.
Dinny McLaughlin, who died on 17 December, was born in 1935 in Shandrum near Buncrana on the Inishowen Peninsula of County Donegal. His parents, James and Mary, raised their six children on a small farm shared with cousins and grandparents. Known as 'The White Harras' (a reference to a white harrow belonging to Dinny’s father), the families’ lives were packed with social gatherings such as ‘big nights’, ‘bottling nights’ and céilís. Music, song, dance and storytelling were vital community traditions on the Inishowen Peninsula and shaped Dinny’s artistic vision and lifelong creative practice.
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Listen: Céilí House on RTÉ Radio 1 plays tribute to Dinny McLaughlin
Though fascinated by the fiddle from an early age, Dinny was fourteen before he was able to access an instrument, which was loaned by a neighbour. His first teacher, Pat Mulhern, offered not just lessons but an immersive cultural experience. Each Sunday, Dinny would cross the moor to Mulhern’s home where ‘the lesson’ was a social occasion involving the whole family with tunes, songs, stories, tea and freshly-baked bread. There he learned as much from listening and observing as he did from playing. Over time, the experience extended beyond the kitchen, as he was brought to play at céilís, weddings and sessions. These outings were ‘as good as going to America!’, according to Dinny, and the bond between him and his mentor lasted until Pat’s death in 1997 at the age of 97.
Aileach and recordings
Dinny’s own performance career began with local céilí bands, progressing to his recording a solo album, A Rake O’ Reels and a Clatter O’ Jigs, in 1971, on the Robin label. His fiddle playing, characterised by both playful flamboyance and emotional sensitivity, was complemented by his talents as a composer, singer, dancer and storyteller.
In the 1970s he became a central figure in the band Aileach, a group that by then included singer and guitar player Bernard Heaney, Brian McRory on banjo, and Pat McCabe on piano accordion. They released two albums – Aileach (1975), which was produced by Dónal Lunny and Phil Coulter, and later, Ard Rí (1977). The band toured Europe and the USA, and played regularly in venues such as The Baggot Inn in Dublin City and The Embankment in Tallaght. Their repertoire had both traditional and newly-composed tunes and ballads, augmented by Dinny’s signature act – dancing while playing the fiddle. The band was well-regarded and merited comparison to Clannad and De Dannan, although, as Dinny later reflected, ‘I don’t think we realised at the time that we were so highly thought of.’
Dancing and teaching
He was seventeen when he took up Irish dancing under Mary McLaughlin’s guidance in Derry, winning numerous awards in competition. By 1959 he had become a certified dance teacher and founded St Oran’s School of Irish Dancing in Inishowen. In this, his innovative choreographies included The Donagh Cross, The Round Tower of Aileach, and the triple All-Ireland-winning The Spinning Wheel. However, he found the rules of competitive dancing stifling, noting ‘the day I got my certificate to teach was the happiest day of my life. And the day I finished was the very same.’
Music teaching came into Dinny’s life unexpectedly. Persuaded in the late 1960s by advocates such as musician Mícheál Ó hÉidhin from Conamara who was based in Sligo as a schools inspector for a period, and Fr Jack Gallagher, who was based in Carndonagh, he reluctantly began offering classes, pressurised by a feeling of responsibility to keep traditional music alive in the community. As it turned out though, he discovered that he had a natural instinct for teaching and for over two decades he went on to inspire learners all over counties Donegal and Derry.
As is typical in traditional music education, every teacher develops their own unique approach to instruction, blending personal experience, creativity and intuition to pass on all aspects of the music in a way that resonates with their students.Dinny thus came to create his own methods with an approach that emphasised repetition, teaching tunes in sequence from simple to complex and grouped by key, and connecting instrumental practice with dancing, singing and lilting. His flair for creativity was evident in his music arrangements, where he layered harmonies and textures to give performances additional life. Thus, his Craobh na hInse branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann students were able to bring many All-Ireland titles to Buncrana in the Grúpa Cheoil competitions. Because he himself gave spontaneous performances regularly during lessons, his classes were part education, part entertainment – wholly transformative for the students.
Among those whom he influenced was Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh who went on to form Altan. She acknowledges that ’he understood the young mind, and instilled and nurtured confidence in all his pupils. I wouldn’t be playing music today if it wasn’t for him.’
Sustaining tradition
The preservation of any tradition within a community often hinges on the dedication of a single individual, someone who takes on the challenge of passing on the artform with an unwavering commitment and intention. This work demands persistence, resilience, and can often be a solitary effort. Dinny’s work highlights the vital role of the individual in preserving a tradition: when he stopped teaching in the late 1980s, there was no immediate successor available to continue his work, something that underscored the fragility of cultural heritage and the reliance on passionate individuals to sustain it. Eventually, some of his former students stepped in to carry his legacy forward: Teresa McClure began teaching under the Craobh Seamus Mac Giolla Bhríde branch of Comhaltas; Angela McLaughlin and Roisin McGrory established the Inishowen Traditional Music Project (ITMP); and this author, with Jim Woods, founded Scoil Trad in Buncrana. Traditional music continues to thrive in the region.
Dinny McLaughlin’s story is a demonstration of the cyclical nature of a tradition: the teacher plays a pivotal role in shaping the direction and development of the students; over time, those students, having grown into their own careers, elevate and honour the teacher, creating a cycle of mutual respect and legacy. In the early 2000s, encouraged and supported by that community of former students and fellow musicians, among them Ciaran Tourish, myself, Michael Carey, Michael Gallinagh, Edel McLaughlin and Tom Byrne, he made a creative resurgence. Aileach briefly re-formed; RTÉ celebrated his contributions to traditional music with the documentary The Pied Piper of Shandrum (2001), and he released a new album, Play It by Ear (2002). That recording was produced by Ciaran Tourish, a former member of Altan, who says, ’It’s only right that I would come back and help Dinny out with some of his projects now that I have travelled the world with this music. And no matter where I go, Dinny’s name is always there before me. I have a lot to thank him for.’
I myself was compelled to document his life in the 2005 book Dinny McLaughlin – From Barefoot Days: A Life of Music, Song and Dance in Inishowen. A CD and DVD, Ark of Tides: A Life in Music – Dinny McLaughlin, was released in 2013 by the Inishowen Traditional Music Project, and Dinny’s compositions, arranged by musician-composer Martin Tourish, were performed by the Inishowen Traditional Music Orchestra and Choir at the National Concert Hall in 2023.
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As anyone who ever met Dinny knows, he always liked to have the final word. So it is fitting to let him do so here in one of his poems, ‘Music’:
I cradled it when in the dark
And woke it from its sleep.
I coaxed it through the feeble years
To see a new dawn peep.
.
And then, my love took root and grew
And bloomed a summer’s day.
May many reap the harvest
When I am long beneath the clay.
For generations to come, many will indeed ‘reap the harvest’ because of what this innovative and passionate musician and educator has sown.
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Read more from The Journal Of Music here
