Remembering Chris Droney

Remembering Chris Droney

The legendary Chris Droney from Bell Harbour, Co. Clare passed away on Wednesday 9th September, 2020. Playing music for almost ninety years, his unique style of playing made him an icon of Clare music-making, a true master of his craft, giving flight to the feet of generations of set dancers down through the years. While he was largely self taught, his father had a huge influence on his playing with Chris often recalling many hours spent as a child practicing tunes by the dim light cast from an old oil lamp.

Chris made the humble concertina synonymous with the Droney name, winning the solo Senior All-Ireland Concertina Competition at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann a monumental nine times, and once in a duet, between 1956 and 1970. He also played in several well known Céilí Bands down through the years, including the Bell Harbour Céilí Band, the Ballinakill, the Aughrim Slopes, the Kincora and the Kilfenora and graced the stage with the Four Courts Céilí Band throughout Ireland and abroad for almost twenty five years.

Chris toured in Canada, England, Scotland, Wales, The Isle of Man and Newfoundland with Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, as well as entertaining Irish communities from Camden Town to North America.

Chris made three fine solo recordings. In 1962 his first solo album, ‘The Flowing Tide’, marked the rise of one of the greats of traditional Irish Music. In 1995, over thirty years later, Chris recorded ‘The Fertile Rock’, his second and much acclaimed solo album. Then, in 2005, he produced yet another musical masterpiece, to the delight of traditional music followers throughout the world, with the album ‘Down From Bell Harbour’. Irish music lovers will forever be indebted to Chris for this wonderful collection of music in the north Clare style, and more particularly in the Droney style which is proudly carried on today by his musical family.

Honed at the house dances of the 1930s, 40s and 50s, Chris's music is most definitely music for the dance; lively, vibrant and rhythmic. In the words of his good friend, Cavan fiddler Antóin Mac Gabhann, “The rhythm of the music is wed to the dance, putting the beat right under the feet of the dancers. One can picture the couples in a figure of the Caledonian set gliding in and out on the cushion of rhythm that Chris provided. He inherited and developed his own settings of tunes in such a way that they sit easily on the concertina, and that is what gives his music its own natural flow. In his playing, the rhythm of the tune takes priority, the embellishment is sparing and is tailored to enhance the rhythm, not to intrude on it.”

Chris is survived by his devoted wife Margaret, his loving children, Jimmy, Ann, Clare, Francis, Declan, Joseph and Caroline, his grandchildren, David, James, Áine, Iarlaith, Oisín, Aoibhín, Ailbhe, Doireann, Cathal, Gráinne, Éanna, Christopher, Cian, Meaghan, Saileóg, Cillian, Ciara, Joey, Robin and Heidi and great-grandchildren, Hanorah, Líobhan, and Seán, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, relatives, neighbours and a wide circle of friends. His funeral mass will be held at St. Patrick’s Church, New Quay, on Saturday, 12th September at 12 noon. The mass can be viewed on http://funeralslive.ie/chris-droney/ Chris will be laid to rest in Corcomroe, the place that inspired his composition of that beautiful air “Peaceful Corcomroe”,

Frank Whelan.