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Pictured are Nicky and Anne McAuliffe from Castleisland at a civic reception held by Kerry County Council to honour their dedicated service to the teaching of traditional music of Sliabh Luachra to many hundreds of students. Pic: Pauline Dennigan
A MARRIED couple who have made an enormous contribution to traditional music in the county were honoured with a civic reception at Kerry County Council on Monday.
Nicky and Anne McAuliffe were present for the occasion where Cathaoirleach of Kerry County Council, Cllr Norma Foley, outlined their importance to the cultural life of Kerry.
“Today, we are honouring and celebrating one of Kerry’s best-known and best-loved couples. Nicky and Anne McAuliffe are a couple in many senses of the word – a couple through marriage and a couple through music,” said Cllr Foley.
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“Nicky, a native of Cordal, and Anne from Lixnaw are, without doubt, two of the finest exponents of traditional Irish music which Kerry has ever produced. In the great pantheon of traditional musicians from Kerry, the McAuliffes are right up there with musicians like Johnny O’Leary, Paddy Cronin, Pádraig O’Keeffe, Denis McMahon, Julia Clifford and Con Curtin.
Pictured from left are Michelle O’ Sullivan, Tralee, Anne McAuliffe from Castleisland and Peggy O’ Sullivan, Tralee at a civic reception held by Kerry County Council to honour Anne and her husband Nicky McAuliffe’s dedicated service to the teaching of traditional music of Sliabh Luachra to many hundreds of students. Pic: Pauline Dennigan
We are today expressing our acknowledgement of and gratitude for the great pleasure which Nicky and Anne McAuliffe have brought to so many people over many years as well as what they have achieved in the cultural sphere.”
The Cathaoirleach described their careers in music and how their love of music brought them together.
“Traditional Irish music is a powerful force and I understand, that it was a force which brought Nicky and Anne together. In October 1969, Nicky and Anne fell madly in love while performing together during a recording of RTÉ’s Céilí House programme and they married a few years later. And so began their mutual love affair with each other and a mutual love affair with music.
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Pictured is Anne McAuliffe from Castleisland at a civic reception held by Kerry County Council to honour Anne and her husband Nicky’s dedicated service to the teaching of traditional music of Sliabh Luachra to many hundreds of students. Pic: Pauline Dennigan
Nicky and Anne were both members of the influential Brosna Céilí Band for many years and the band won the All-Ireland Céilí Band title at the Fleadh Cheoil in Listowel in 1972. Nicky, himself, was also an All-Ireland winner on the tin whistle the year before.
Both Nicky and Anne learned their music initially from their parents in that great custom of handing down the music from one generation to the next.
Pictured are Nicky McAuliffe from Castleisland and Cllr. John Lucid at a civic reception held by Kerry County Council to honour Nicky and his wife Anne McAuliffe’s dedicated service to the teaching of traditional music of Sliabh Luachra to many hundreds of students. Pic: Pauline Dennigan
Anne made her first public appearance on stage at the first County Fleadh Cheoil in 1960 in Ballyheigue. Anne was crowned All-Ireland Under-18 accordion champion in 1964 and she also participated in many duets with her sister, Bridie.
Nicky’s first public performance was in ‘Thady Willy’s Hall’ in Gneeveguilla on St Patrick’s Night in 1964 and it was no coincidence that it was there, 11 years later, that he taught his first music class. It was the beginning of decades of music teaching which came into being with the support of the Kerry VEC and Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann.
Anne followed Nicky into music teaching a few years later. In fact, Anne gave up her shorthand typist’s job here at Kerry County Council in 1975 and went on to teach music not only across the Kingdom but in villages including Cullen, Dromtariffe and Baile Mhúirne.
Pictured from left are Moira Murrell, CEO, Kerry County Council, Cllr. Norma Foley, Cathaoirleach, Kerry County Council, Nicky and Anne McAuliffe from Castleisland and Cllr. Mike Gleeson from Killarney at a civic reception held by Kerry County Council to honour Nicky and Anne’s dedicated service to the teaching of traditional music of Sliabh Luachra to many hundreds of students. Pic: Pauline Dennigan
Your lifetimes in music have seen thousands of students beat paths to the doors of the schools and village halls around Kerry.
Nicky has also made a major impact as a composer and a historian of Irish music – he has become one of the ‘go to’ musicians for notes or for the names of tunes. One of his best-known compositions, along with Jack Roche of Rockchapel and others, was ‘A Musical Journey through the History of Ireland’ which has been widely acclaimed. And as members of the Siamsa Tíre Folk Theatre, both Nicky and Anne have been part of one of our most treasured local cultural institutions.
2019 has already been an incredibly special year for the McAuliffes as they were announced as winners of a TG4 Gradam Ceoil Lifetime Achievement Award.
The McAuliffes were also part of a group invited to Áras an Uachtaráin by President Mary McAleese in 2003 to a reception to celebrate local traditional musicians throughout Ireland. They were also part of the Rockchapel-based group, Ceoltóirí Sliabh Luachra who were received in Áras an Uachtaráin by President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina.
Nicky, you are now in your 49th year teaching music and Anne, you are in your 44th. That is almost 100 years collectively which you have given to imparting your music and your love of music to countless other musicians across Kerry and beyond. What an incredible and enduring legacy which will live on for many generations to come.”
