Cathal McConnell (born 1944) is an Irish musician and singer best known as the mainstay of traditional band
The Boys of the Lough
The Boys of the Lough is a Scottish-Irish Celtic music band active since the 1970s.
Early years
Their first album, called ''Boys of the Lough'' (1972) consisted of Aly Bain (fiddle), Cathal McConnell (flute), Dick Gaughan (vocals and guitar) a ...
, of which he is a founder member. His main instruments are the
Irish flute and the
tin whistle
The tin whistle, also known as the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, a class of instrument which also includes the recorder and Native American flute. A tin whistle player is called a whistl ...
.
Following a lifetime immersed in traditional music and song, Cathal McConnell is currently gathering his enormous collection of music and memorabilia for deposit with th
Irish Traditional Music Archivein Dublin. This project has also allowed ITMA to record some o
Cathal's memoriesof his musical friendship with the great Donegal fiddler, Tommy Peoples. 2023-24 projects include recording 'McConnell's Variations on Whistle and Flute' with
Nuala Kennedy
Nuala Kennedy (born 30 January 1977) is an Irish composer, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist.
Career
She grew up in Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland, where she played piano and flute in a local ceili band and studied classical piano a ...
.
Early life
McConnell came from a musical family in
Tonyloman near
Bellanaleck
Bellanaleck (Flanagan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 182. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a small village in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It lies just south of Enniskillen on the main A509 ( N3) road towards Cavan and Dub ...
,
County Fermanagh
County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of six counties of Northern Ireland.
The county covers an area of and had a population of 63,585 as of 2021. Enniskillen is the ...
and plays his music in the traditional Fermanagh style. His father Sandy was a well known traditional singer and musician in his own right and recorded for the BBC in the 1950s and his younger brother is the musician and songwriter
Mickey MacConnell
Mickey MacConnell (born 1947) is an Irish musician and songwriter.
Life and work
MacConnell was born in Bellanaleck near Enniskillen in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. He is the youngest member of a musical family. He worked in Dublin for Ir ...
.
McConnell's early musical collaborators in Ireland were fiddler
Tommy Gunn and
Robin Morton. In 1962 McConnell became
All-Ireland champion in both flute and whistle.
The Boys of the Lough
After meeting at a folk festival in
Falkirk
Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow.
Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...
, Scotland, the group The Boys of the Lough was formed and their first recording was released in 1973. Originally consisting of McConnell on flute,
Aly Bain
Aly Bain MBE (born 15 May 1946) is a Scottish fiddler who learned his instrument from the old-time master Tom Anderson. The former First Minister of Scotland Jack McConnell called Bain a "Scottish icon."
Career
Bain was born in the town of Le ...
(fiddle),
Dick Gaughan
Richard Peter Gaughan (born 17 May 1948) is a Scottish musician, singer and songwriter, particularly of folk and social protest songs. He is regarded as one of Scotland's leading singer-songwriters.
Early years
Gaughan was born in Glasgow's Ro ...
(vocals and guitar) and Robin Morton (
bodhran and vocals). Although there have now been multiple line-up changes, the group remains active and has 21 studio albums to its name. McConnell is the only remaining founder member.
Other projects
Outside the Boys of the Lough, Cathal has released two albums of songs and tunes, performed in duos with Robin Morton (1939–2021), Scots fiddler Duncan Wood,
singer
Len Graham, Irish fiddler
Gerry O'Connor, among others. In 2010
Gerry O'Connor compiled a collection from Cathal's song repertoire, published as ''I Have Travelled This Country''.
In Scotland, where he has lived for many years you will often find Cathal McConnell performing with his friend, Gaelic piper and singe
Allan MacDonaldor as The Cathal McConnell Trio with Kathryn Nicoll (fiddle and viola) and Karen Marshalsay (harp). He has also performed and recorded wit
Michelle Burkeand wit
Nuala Kennedy
Accolades
1962: McConnell is an
All-Ireland champion in both flute and whistle, winning both Senior titles at the
held in Gorey, County Wexford">Gorey">koːl̪ˠt̪ˠəsˠ ˈcoːl̪ˠt̪ˠoːɾʲiː ˈeːɾ ...
held in Gorey, County Wexford.
2009: Following a longstanding involvement with the annual Willie Clancy Summer School in Miltown Malbay, County Clare, the School paid tribute to McConnell with an evening of speeches, music and song dedicated to him in July 2009.
2010: McConnell was awarded Amhránaí na Bliana/Traditional Singer of the Year at the
Gradam Ceoil awards ceremony in Wexford Opera House. This honour was acknowledged in Cathal's adopted hometown whe
hosted a reception to mark the occasion.
2013: As part of his appearance at ''Cruinniú na bhFliúit'' Flute Festival in Baile Bhúirne, West Cork, Cathal was interviewed about his life and music.
(1978)
* ''For the Sake of Old Decency'' with Len Graham – Sage Arts Records (1993)
* ''Long Expectant Comes at Last'' –
(2000)
* ''Auld Springs Gies Nae Price'' with Duncan Wood – Carnyx Productions (2010)
* ''Old Recordings of Slow Airs'' (2021)
Other recordings include:
* a series of whistle recordings included with the tutor book ''Irish Pennywhistle Taught By Cathal McConnell'' published by Homespun Tapes.
* an extensive series of recordings documenting Cathal's song repertoire included with the book ''I Have Travelled This Country''.