By Deric Green

Several new faces are being added to the eighth annual St. Louis Tionol and Mississippi River Celtic Festival, April 8 – 10, 2005. Among them will be piper and pipemaker Mickey Dunne of Limerick. Dunne is noted for playing in a open style similar to the likes of Paddy Keenan and Johnny Doran. 

For fiddlers, the Tional coordinators say they are delighted that Tommy Peoples will be joining them again, along with Dale Russ, a great West Coast fiddle player. 

In addition to the recitation class offered at last year’s smashing event, the Tionol has added a songwriting workshop with Mitzi MacDonald, a native of Nova Scotia. The talented Macdonald has her own band, with several albums to her credit. Albert Alfonso will teach the bodhran class along with St. Louis’ Chris Weddle. Kevin Henry, the great piper and flute player is coming down from Chicago, as will Tommy Martin, John Carty, John Skelton, and Ged Foley will also be coming back. 

Event organizer Mike Mullins played highland pipes when in college with an Irish band here in Saint Louis called the Shamrock Pipe Band. Kids, family, and moving out of town made it difficult to continue. In 1965, he stumbled on to a recording of Leo Rowsome at a record store in Dublin and fell in love with the uillean pipes. But it took almost 22 years before he was able to acquire a set. These days, for a living he works for a company that makes soft indoor childrens play equipment.

Mullins’ ancestors from Ireland mostly came over in the 1700s. "My mother's family name was Mahaffey, coming from what is now the north on a town on the shore of Lough Erne.. Her mother was McBride and they came from somewhere in Ulster," he reported. His father's family goes back to a Mullins who emigrated from Kent in the south of England in the mid-1600s. 

Son-in-law, Donal Hegart, hails from Cork where his family and sisters still live. He was trained as an artist and makes his living here as a graphic artist. He's done some stunning posters for the festival over the years. One of the highlights was 2002 version which featured a river boat with musicians on the bow - the piper was a tribute to Al Purcell. The fiddler was Liz Carroll, with Mark Stone on bodhran.

The idea for the festival first formed over a few pints at John D. McGurks pub, with excellent input from Michael (Piper) Cooney, of Thurles in Tipperary who was living in Saint Louis at the time. He's since moved back to Ireland. 

Mullins had been going up to Irish Week at Augusta for several years. "At that time, there were piping Tionols on the East and West coasts but nothing in-between. We thought we could do something here in Saint Louis for a weekend and have some fun," he recalled. The idea was to have a weekend of sessions, classes, and a concert with a big emphasis on sessions. 

It was so hard, or was until very recently, for someone outside of a major metropolitan area to find traditional music had to travel to one or two events a year and tape-record as much as possible, according to Mullins. "But that's not the way the music is in Ireland - it's an oral shared tradition. Mick Moloney has done such a great job at Augusta and it was really his model that we tried to follow. Basically get everyone, including the teachers, together in an atmosphere where they can interact and then get out of the way," he said. 

"From the beginning, even though we called ourselves a festival, we weren't a festival in the sense of having a big stage, or stages, with continuous performances while rows of vendors sold their wares. We wanted a more intimate atmosphere where musicians could interact with the teachers and if someone wanted to come in a watch that was okay, too, Mullins emphasized.

The organizers quickly involved Judy Stein who runs the Focal Point Traditional Arts Center in St. Louis. Originally, they were just going to do pipes, but the challenge of bringing in teachers meant that they had to make some money doing it. A concert seemed like a good way to help bring in extra money but the fest managers weren't sure they could make a go of a concert featuring only uilleann pipes - at least not in Saint Louis. So they started adding other traditional instruments. "We're still tweaking the mix," Mullins laughed. 

Saint Louis was chosen because there was a good base of Irishness in the city and the organizers knew what venues would work. "I can't imagine trying to pull this off somewhere down the road that I had to travel to," Mullins said. 

"The biggest worry is always whether you'll have enough folks show up to pay the musicians and the bills. The biggest difficulty is the promotional work. We've worked with some sponsors but at this time don't have any major sponsors. We're such a niche event that the big sponsors don't see us as being a good venue to showcase their products," he added. 

"Yes, it was nerve-wracking - and still is. Each year waiting for
registrations is a nail-biting experience hoping that enough people decide to come," Mullins went on. 

The Tionol’s geographic draw has been amazing, including one person from Australia, although he was already in the States for something else. "We have had people from both coasts but the majority are from the Midwest. For the first few years, we wavered between 120 to 140 attending workshops. Last year we topped 180 which was a big boost, according to Mullins. "We get a tremendous range of folks coming in from the "never-ever's" to some folks who are professionals. As a result some of the sessions are pretty amazing." 

The festival’s schedule is such that folks don't have a lot of spare time. When they do, they're typically playing in a session. A large number of folks come back year after year so there's a lot of re-connecting going on, as well. Close to thre-quarters of attendees are repeats. 

People are on their own for lodging, Mullins said However, this past year, the fest offered lunch on Saturday so they wouldn't have to leave the class venue. It seemed to be well received so the meal will be served again this year. On Sunday morning, John D. McGurks opens early for the participants and offers a breakfast. "With all the logistics of everything else, we've stayed away from doing any more with food," Mullins pointed out. 

"We've looked at getting a hotel like the Comhaltas convention and shied away from it. They typically want a guarantee that we'll book a certain number of rooms and we pay for them whether taken or not. We've not wanted to go out on the limb financially," he said cautiously. 

Musicians’ ages ranges from 7 years old up to 80. "We allow kids but expect them to be able to keep up in the class. There are some pretty awesome kids out there. The big things we hear are that people value the ability to have one on one time with the teachers and actually play in sessions with them," Mullins indicated. 

Word-of-mouth is becoming more and more of a factor in attracting participants During the first year, Mullins chuckled that "people seemed to come out of the woodwork. Two older guys showed up who just decided to come on their own. One was Al Purcell, the other was Kevin Henry. Both were great and, to me, having folks like that there was what it was all about. Al was a great help in subsequent years and became a very dear friend. He's sorely missed. Kevin is amazing. Not many performers can bring an audience to its feet with a recitation." 

That first year, Chicagoan Isaac Alderson showed up, after just getting his first practice set of pipes. Anderson went on to win three All-Ireland titles a few years later and has since come back and taught for
us. 

The greatest reward from Mullins and the other organizers has been getting to know everyone who's come. "We've made some great friends," he said.

Mullins regretted that he has not attended any of the other festivals
except for the one down in Carbondale, Ill. "I do try to get to at least one or two of the piping weekends each year and, although I've not been able to make it back to Augusta, I did get up to Catskills Irish week a year ago and look forward to going back," he said.

The weekend will start off on Friday, April 8, with a concert at the Saint Louis Brewery and Taproom starting at 7:30 p.m. Following the concert will be a ceilidh with music provided by Phuca, a local group of traditional musicians. Music sessions typically will start around 9 p.m. This year. Friday sessions will be held at both the Taproom and at John D. McGurk’s. 

Saturday will bring workshops during the day from 9:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. followed by a concert at the famous Sheldon Concert Hall. More sessions will follow the concert.

Most of the workshops are broken down into beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels, so all skills will be accommodated, Mullins said. Recitations have always been a part of the tradition dating back to the days of the bards and wandering poets. P.J. Gannon will be returning this year to teach a recitation workshop. Last year Kevin Henry's recitation during the concert brought the house to its feet and was one of the high points of the evening. 

All the details, including registration information, are available at www.tionol.org. Or call 636-926-9192.