Page 7 - Garda Journal Winter 2019

Joe Liddy above and, right the Belhavel Trio. Images courtesy of Ceoltóirí Eireann
COVER HISTORY | The Garda Céilí Band
The late Joe Liddy, Courtesy of Comhaltas CeoltÓrÍ Eireann.
Eamonn Keane, performing monologues. Take The Floor ran for twelve years until December 1965.
Over a twenty year period, the Garda Céilí Band frequently played at the Dublin Horse Show in the RDS, as well as at major race meetings at Leopardstown Fairyhouse, Punchestown and Tralee, not to mention the annual Galway Races. At the height of their success, the Céilí Band also featured well- known civilian solo performers, including uilleann pipers Leo Rowsome and Ted Furey, the father of Finbarr, Eddie and George Furey. A public recital by the Garda Céilí Band for a June Sunday in 1954, included the following Irish traditional tunes: Jigs-A Draught of Ale, Jackson’s Fancy, The One Horned Sheep. Hornpipes- The Greencastle, The Kildare Fancy and Dunphy’s. Reels-The Fairy Reel and Muldoon’s Favourite.
Belhavel Lough in Co. Leitrim. Over the next ten years, they made three 78 records and also made numerous broadcasts on Raidío Éireann, during the 1940s and early 50s. Joe also played with John Joe Gardiner and Kathleen Harrington in the Kincora Céilí Band. Joe became very active in the Booterstown, and later the Monkstown branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann in the 1960s and 70s. Over many years of both playing and teaching, he had composed very many traditional Irish tunes. In 1981, Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann published over hundred of his tunes in a two-volume book entitled ‘The Leitrim Fiddler’. Joe Liddy died on March 9th 1992, aged 86 years, and is buried in Deansgrange Cemetery, Co. Dublin.
The Garda Céilí Band put away their instruments in 1958, just as the folk and traditional revival was about to begin. But many traditional Irish musicians within the ranks of An Garda Síochána continued to play at musical gatherings and sessions throughout the country. Finally, a reunion concert featuring many of the former members of the Garda Céilí Band was organised and recorded in the Bandroom of Garda Headquarters on Saturday 29th December 2001. This unique recording was later broadcast on the popular RTÉ Radio 1 programme Céilí House, presented by former Stockton’s Wing banjo player, Kieran Hanrahan, on Saturday January 12th 2002.
“The recording engineers log notes referred to the unique musicianship of the band members, as many tracks
were taken ‘first time’ and adjudged to be of sufficient quality for pressing"
JOE LIDDY
One of the best-known traditional musicians to have played with the Garda Céilí Band has to be Joe Liddy. Born in Killargue, Co. Leitrim in 1906, Joe came from a family steeped in the rich musical traditions of that part of the country. His mother and father were fine accordion players as were his brothers, Mick and Tom. His sister Annie played both accordion and fiddle, and his sister Kathleen was a noted step-dancer. Joe began playing the melodeon at a young age, before progressing to the accordion, and from that to his favourite instrument, the fiddle.
Joe joined An Garda Siochána in 1924, just before his brother Tom emigrated to America. When Tom returned to Ireland in the early 1930s, Joe, Tom and Westmeath uilleann piper, Ned O’Gorman got together to form the Belhavel Trio, named after
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