Songs of the Spanish Civil War with John Nyhan, Mick Treacy and friends.

This event takes place at the Maldron Hotel on Friday night 4^th August at 9.30 pm. All are welcome. Singers and songwriters are welcome to come along and take part but please contact John Nyhan beforehand.

Many people are aware of Christy Moore’s inspiring song and the words of Viva La Quinta Brigada, which he credited to the book, Connolly Column written by Michael O’Riordan, and read while Christy was on holiday in Spain. The words concentrate on the Irish members of the International Brigades who lost their lives during the war, however there is a huge rich vein of songs and poetry associated with the Spanish Civil War.

Mick Treacy and John Nyhan hope to explore this rich vein of songs, stories and poetry during the forthcoming Spirit of Mother Jones festival.

A recent note from Mick indicates their intentions

“I will be working from this list hopefully but not in this order

The Ballad of Kit Conway, Viva la Quinta Brigada, Hans Beimler, Jarama Valley, Venja Jaleo, The Peatbog Soldiers, off to Salamanca, O’Duffy’s ironsides, Jamie Foyer, The Thaelmann Column, The Bantry Girl’s Lament, Come you Anti-fascists, Viva la Quince Brigata(Spanish) and Bandiera Rossa as well as poems by Charlie Donnelly, John Cornford , Donough Mc Donough and others.”

Mick Treacy.

Mick came to folk music through listening to The Weavers , Delia Murphy, Joe Lynch, Connie Foley and the one and only Margaret Barry in the fifties and then the Skiffle movement in Britain which was spearheaded by Ken Colyer one of the leading exponents of the Classic New Orleans Jazz style in Britain. The revival of interest in Folk song and music happened to coincide with this outbreak of people’s music making and before long there was a natural fusion which led to Skiffle groups becoming Folk Groups like The Ian Campbell group in Birmingham or The Quarrymen from Liverpool becoming the Beatles.

Mick went to England in late 1960 became part of the whole folk revival first listening and learning from Ewan McColl, Bob Davenport, Alex Campbell, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot and many more.   By 1964 he was singing in Birmingham Town Hall in a fund raising concert for West Midlands Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and later joined an Irish Group called ‘The Munstermen’. This lead in turn to the founding of ‘The Holyground Folk Club’ which had three glorious years and hosted many of the world’s great folk artistes.

In 1967 he came to Dublin and sang in most of the venues of the day such as the Embankment, the Castle Inn, the Old Sheiling and many of the local Folk Clubs before returning to his native Mitchelstown where he settled down, got married and raised a family.  He has always had an interest in the songs of the working people collecting many down through the years.  He feels privileged to have shared the platform and stage with many pacifist and socialist poets, writers, singers and performers who shared his dreams.

John Nyhan.

John was born in Cork City and now lives in Lombardstown, North Cork, where he plays an active role in the local community. He was heavily influenced by the Folk revival and has been playing and promoting music for over 40 years.

During the 70s he was a founding member of The Shandon Folk Club in Eason’s Hill, within an earshot of the Shandon Bells. Today he continues his voluntary involvement as a promoter of concerts and festivals.  He is especially well known for the Bluegrass and Folk concerts he runs at The Village Arts Centre, Kilworth Co Cork. John is an avid collector of folk, bluegrass and songs of the people and has an encyclopaedic recall of singers and songs.

In the 1970s he worked as a peace campaigner in the North of Ireland as a member of Voluntary Service International. He was also a worker with the Simon Community.

A regular contributor to the annual Mother Jones festival, John organised the legendary session “The songs of Joe Hill” in 2015 and in 2016 performed his vast repertoire of mining songs along with Mick Treacy.