Celebrating the legacy of Des Carty in Café Aon Scéal

A SMALL group of local Irish traditional music fans were treated to a lively show in Café Aon Scéal in Tallaght on Friday, marking Culture Night and celebrating the legacy of Des Carty.

Des Carthy was a skilled trad musician who was well-known in Tallaght and outlying areas, and he taught many musicians how to play the fiddle, tin whistle, banjo and mandolin.

Local trad musicians, several of whom were trained by Des Carty, performed on the night, including Paul Kelly, Dave Cassidy, Tom Moran, Liam Kennedy, Frank O’Riordan and Jimmy Cahill.

The event was organised by local historian and Tallaght Community Council’s (TCC) heritage officer Albert Perris, on behalf of TCC.

Mr Perris told The Echo: “It was for the 25th anniversary of Des Carty’s passing, and he would have been quite well-known in his day, and a lot of the fine trad musicians around South Dublin would’ve been trained by him.

“And I was also thinking of the music that was in Tallaght Village in the 1930s. There is a music heritage in the area that started in the 1930s with

[uilleann piper] Sean Dempsey.

“The event was about celebrating the music heritage and the community.”

Tallaght Person of the Year, Ballycragh’s Lee Moroney, gave a speech at the start of the event where he described Des Carty as one of Tallaght’s “finest fiddlers and musicians”.

During his speech, Lee said:

“It is worth mentioning that Des Carty is not just remembered as a very fine musician and teacher, but also as a very fine gentleman, a neighbour and a friend.

“We are delighted to have members of Des’s family here tonight, and a number of Des’s students, who together with others will keep us entertained over the coming hour or two.

“I would encourage you all to share stories, memories and anecdotes of the man himself and of the times and the village in which he lived.”

The night was a high point for many attendees, as they got to mingle again with their community while enjoying live music.

Mr Perris added: “It was an opportunity to bring the community together for a night.

“It was absolutely wonderful. There were a lot of people there that knew each other and hadn’t seen each other for a long time.”

This was the first time TCC has held an event to mark Culture Night and, according to Mr Perris, it was such a success that it’s unlikely to be the last.

“It was a lovely, intimate evening for the Tallaght community and we’ll certainly look at doing future events for Culture Night in the coming years,” he said.