| A feast of traditional music at Traditions
 THE TRADITIONS
Club London is the place to be on St. Patrick’s night if you enjoy
traditional Irish singing.
Gabriel McCardle and John and Valerie McManus from the Hidden Fermanagh
recordings will be providing the top-class entertainment.
John McManus was born in New York in 1925 but has spent all but the first
few years of his life living on the family farm on the shores of Upper
Lough Erne.
He learnt his singing and his fiddle playing from his mother’s family
the Gunns — a long-established clan in that part of Fermanagh.
His mother Katie Gunn passed on her singing to him and he took his fiddle-playing
from his uncle Hugh Gunn.
He played with the Harp of Erin Céilí Band for house dances
and continues to play, sing, and teach in his local area.
Valerie McManus’s family also contained notable singers.
She has an extensive store of songs from a variety of sources but her
traditional tunes were learnt mainly from her mother-in-law Katie Gunn.
Her impressive traditional repertoire features a large number of local
songs. Like John she was a regular performer for the local house dances
and currently teaches singing in local workshops.
Gabriel McArdle was born in the same part of Fermanagh as John and Valerie
and now lives in Enniskillen.
Gabriel’s singing and concertina playing started at an early age.
Many of his songs were learnt from singers from Derrylin and Kinawley
and from the singing of Mick Hoy from the Derrygonnelly area.
He has featured on many recordings, most notably with Ben Lennon, Séamus
Quinn and Ciarán Curran.
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