John Carty - 'The Road to Sligo'

by Ronan Nolan

Two years ago he recorded a banjo album. Now London-born John Carty has another album out, this time playing the fiddle. He talks to Ronan Nolan

Though often spoken of, the Sligo style isn't played that widely nowadays. One may think that the influence of Coleman and Morrison would have ensured its prominence. John Carty doesn't think so. "It's a big influence in the way the music is being played at the moment. But the actual nitty gritty of the Sligo style seems to have filtered through a lot of styles."

John Carty was born in London of Irish parents. "My mother was a Folan from Cashel in Connemara and my father is a native of Boyle, Co Roscommon."

His father, John P, a multi instrumentalist, played with the popular Sixties ceili band, The Glenside, which, appropriately won the All-Ireland title in his home town of Boyle in 1966. "They were really a stronghold of the London Irish music scene. My father played banjo and fiddle, saxophone and pipes."

He was soon attracted to the sessions in west London, places like the White Hart in Fulham Broadway - an earlier nursery for Christy Moore - and up around Holloway Road, The Shakespeare, The Favourite and the Victoria. He was meeting and playing with many fine musicians and by 16 was playing with flute player Roger Sherlock from Sligo and East Galway box player Raymond Rowland. "Also I would have played with Bobby Casey, Finbar Dwyer and fiddler Danny Meehan and banjo player Mick O'Connor and a great fiddle player from Leitrim called Brendan Rooney." He was also a member of the group Sliabh Luachra.

He had been playing lots of fiddle at home and started introducing it at gigs. His style, the old Sligo style, "proved really, really popular."

But does he equate the Sligo style with the Coleman style. "Yea, very much so. A lot of people, they play Coleman's tunes, but they wouldn't have the style he had - the lift or the flavour ... the accent, I don't know how you'd describe it."

John Carty is generous in his comments on the younger fiddlers. "I think Martin Hayes is a beautiful fiddle player. I really like his style. He's really sticking to what he knows. He's just rooted in the music he plays."

He's heard a few tracks from the new Eileen Ivers CD on the radio. "Very exciting stuff too. She's obviously found a market for that and good luck to her. It's great stuff. I really think there's room for Eileen Ivers and all the debatable stuff about Michael O Suilleabhain. I think it's all very healthy. The place is big enough for everybody who wants to do what they want to do. Personally I'm as traditional as they go."

When we spoke he was actually getting ready to go to the Cannes Film Festival. "It's a long story really. "Bernard Flaherty is a flute player >from Boyle (author of the book 'Trip to Sligo'). The acting fraternity are related to him in some way. They needed musicians to promote Donal Lunny's new film." He was going out on the Saturday and was due back by Tuesday.