Post by Ptarmigan on May 11, 2008 17:47:18 GMT
Frank McCollam of Ballycastle
I wrote this piece on Frank for the 'Irish Music Magazine' @
That wonderful Hornpipe, ‘The Home Ruler’ is played & loved wherever there is Irish Music, which means everywhere. But, was it written by a Kerry man, composed in Clare, dreamed up in Sligo, or whittled out of bog oak in Donegal, any guesses? Well no, none of the above are true, it was in fact composed by a fine Fiddler, Frank McCollam, of Ballycastle, Co Antrim.
Frank, who also had a passion for gardening, Bees, restoring old clocks, and ‘going to the Moss’, was a member of the local Ballinlea Pipe Band, but in later years, put the pipes aside to concentrate on the Fiddle. He also played the Accordion, but it’s his Fiddle playing most folk speak of around here, and musicians used to come from all over the place to ‘hae a tune wi’ Frank’. Indeed, that well known connoisseur of good tunes, Cathal McConnell was a regular visitor. It’s a fair old cycle from Fermanagh, so Frank, & his music, must have been well worth the jaunt.
Frank himself, was well known all over Ireland, but two men whom he visited on a regular basis were Liam Donnelly, and Sean Ryan. Sean Ryan, a kindred spirit, and brilliant Fiddler himself, and Liam, who could read and write the music down, skills which Frank did not possess. Frank however had all the music he needed in his head, and if he was ever short of a tune, all he had to do was sit down and write a new one.
When I first learned the tune, The Home Ruler, I quite naturally assumed, like many, that it was named with politics in mind. However, some years ago, I was chatting to Len Graham, another good friend of Franks, who put me straight. Frank in fact named the tune after his wife, Sally, and Frank’s daughter Catherine, later confirmed this by telling me how all the men then, used to refer to their wives as ‘The Home Ruler’.
The version I have for you here, I learned from another Ballycastle man, Franks star pupil, Chris McCormick. Chris learned his Fiddle playing, and of course this tune, from Frank, so this is the way Frank would have played it. A little different perhaps, from the very fine version recorded by Noel Hill & Tony Linnane some years ago, on their brilliant LP. I’m sure there are many people who learned the tune from that recording, and no doubt they will be interested to see how it differs from the original concept.
Frank often played The Home Ruler in a set with ‘The Hangman’s Noose’, another of his own hornpipes. Frank had John McNaughton in mind when he named this tune, for John, a Bushmills man, was found guilty in 1761, of murdering his lover, and sentenced to hang. However, when they carried out the sentence the rope snapped, so they had to hang him again. Legend has it that he was offered a pardon, but refused it, saying he could not go through life being known as ‘Half hanged McNaughton’. Personally speaking you can call me anything you like, just don’t stretch my neck!
Another of Frank’s excellent compositions, the reel ‘Catherine Marie’, now often called ‘Kate Marie’, can also be heard wherever good tunes are played. This tune Frank named after his daughter, who now lives in Dublin, so if you happen to meet up with Catherine in one of Dublin’s fine hostelries, I recommend you buy her a drink, and toast the life of a great composer, and fine musician from Ballycastle, Co. Antrim, - Frank McCollam.
by Dick Glasgow
Frank, who also had a passion for gardening, Bees, restoring old clocks, and ‘going to the Moss’, was a member of the local Ballinlea Pipe Band, but in later years, put the pipes aside to concentrate on the Fiddle. He also played the Accordion, but it’s his Fiddle playing most folk speak of around here, and musicians used to come from all over the place to ‘hae a tune wi’ Frank’. Indeed, that well known connoisseur of good tunes, Cathal McConnell was a regular visitor. It’s a fair old cycle from Fermanagh, so Frank, & his music, must have been well worth the jaunt.
Frank himself, was well known all over Ireland, but two men whom he visited on a regular basis were Liam Donnelly, and Sean Ryan. Sean Ryan, a kindred spirit, and brilliant Fiddler himself, and Liam, who could read and write the music down, skills which Frank did not possess. Frank however had all the music he needed in his head, and if he was ever short of a tune, all he had to do was sit down and write a new one.
When I first learned the tune, The Home Ruler, I quite naturally assumed, like many, that it was named with politics in mind. However, some years ago, I was chatting to Len Graham, another good friend of Franks, who put me straight. Frank in fact named the tune after his wife, Sally, and Frank’s daughter Catherine, later confirmed this by telling me how all the men then, used to refer to their wives as ‘The Home Ruler’.
The version I have for you here, I learned from another Ballycastle man, Franks star pupil, Chris McCormick. Chris learned his Fiddle playing, and of course this tune, from Frank, so this is the way Frank would have played it. A little different perhaps, from the very fine version recorded by Noel Hill & Tony Linnane some years ago, on their brilliant LP. I’m sure there are many people who learned the tune from that recording, and no doubt they will be interested to see how it differs from the original concept.
Frank often played The Home Ruler in a set with ‘The Hangman’s Noose’, another of his own hornpipes. Frank had John McNaughton in mind when he named this tune, for John, a Bushmills man, was found guilty in 1761, of murdering his lover, and sentenced to hang. However, when they carried out the sentence the rope snapped, so they had to hang him again. Legend has it that he was offered a pardon, but refused it, saying he could not go through life being known as ‘Half hanged McNaughton’. Personally speaking you can call me anything you like, just don’t stretch my neck!
Another of Frank’s excellent compositions, the reel ‘Catherine Marie’, now often called ‘Kate Marie’, can also be heard wherever good tunes are played. This tune Frank named after his daughter, who now lives in Dublin, so if you happen to meet up with Catherine in one of Dublin’s fine hostelries, I recommend you buy her a drink, and toast the life of a great composer, and fine musician from Ballycastle, Co. Antrim, - Frank McCollam.
by Dick Glasgow
N. B. Does anyone out there have a photograph of Frank, which they would be willing to share with us? If so, please send it to this forum. Ta
