Keeping her culture alive

Crescentwood

West End

Singer Maureen Taggart never planned on recording and releasing a CD, but her ardour for preserving Irish language and culture ultimately powered through, and she launched an album of traditional songs called Ard na gCasán: The Height of the Paths on Nov. 1 at the Irish Club of Manitoba.

Taggart has lived in the Crescentwood area of Winnipeg since the early 1970s, but her roots are in Ard na gCasán — or Annagassan — a village in County Louth, Ireland, for which her album is named.

Growing up in Annagassan in the 1950s and early 1960s, phones were scarce, so neighbours were more inclined to drop in to each other’s homes, Taggart said. In the evenings, groups would gather around a fire and sing songs or recount stories about “the old times,” often in English, as the Irish language — Gaelic, or Gaeilge — had fallen out of favour and usage owing to it being outlawed during British rule and associated with economic disadvantage.

“It grew out of storytelling,” Taggart said of the style of Irish song she favours. “If they felt like they were losing their audience, they’d add a tune.”

Taggart began singing this way in her early teens, but only began to sing and speak in Gaelic once she began attending Gaelic summer schools.

She eventually bonded with a teacher named Timothy English, who encouraged her singing and helped her enter local contests. In 1965, when she was 18, she won an All-Ireland Medal for singing.

The songs on The Height of the Paths come from a personal place. Singing in Gaelic, Taggart recounts stories from her youth and time in Manitoba — where she worked as a playwright and librarian at the University of Winnipeg — conveyed through the personal associations she has with pre-written melodies rather than the creation of new ones.

“My primary purpose in making the CD was initially archival,” Taggart said, adding that many of her mentors had not left any recordings, “which was a terrible shame.”

“It wasn’t an easy thing to do,” she continued. She had originally planned to start recording before COVID-19, but was set back by pandemic restrictions.

She was partly inspired by Virginia – The Bronze Branch, a singer she taught at the Manitoba Conservatory of Music, as well as a talk she had with Dan Donahue, a local musician and music producer who was a big supporter of the project.

Taggart described the launch as “a tremendous party,” featuring over two hours of music and readings from members of the local Irish community. The list included the band Cairde, Boris Leung, Tim Osmond, Brian Richardson, Mary Louise Cheung, the Flatlands Ceili Band, Danielle Savage, and Kate Ferris.

“It was amazing,” she said. “There were over 140 people.”

“Usually I get nervous, but I looked out at all of the people and thought, ‘I have nothing to fear,’” she said. “It surpassed all my expectations.”

“If I can get people interested in the culture somehow, and how it survived despite difficulties and despite oppression, then I’m contributing,” she said. “It’s an amazing achievement for the Irish contingent that there is a little nucleolus for the culture, that it’s being honoured (here).”

All money made from admission to her album launch went to the Irish Club. Taggart has spent a great deal of time there, she said, and started the Winnipeg chapter of Comhaltas, a global network dedicated to Irish music. She was also active in the local independent theatre scene for many years.

She said Irish music can connect people on a substantial level. To the point that, when she and her husband, Hugh, moved back to Ireland following retirement, it didn’t take very long before they returned to Manitoba and the community they had built here.

“People are so open, it’s just lovely,” she said.

To learn more about The Height of the Paths email Taggart at maureenbtaggart@icloud.com