Derry Feis 2024 a great success

Debonaire ‘Father of Derry Feis’ Pat MacCafferty had a welcoming word for everyone in the buzzing feis office.

When Derry News called to St Columb’s Hall for a chat on opening morning, the long-standing Music Co-ordinator was congratulating competitors and as they queued for their beautiful certificates.

Bright future for Derry Feis after successful week

Competition entries up across the board as Feis settles back into St Columb's Hall

It is not too much of a stretch to say Feis Dhoire Cholmcille is in Pat’s DNA. He clearly loves the unique cultural phenomenon.

“It’s hectic today,” he said when we moved to a quieter spot, “but then, it’s always hectic on the first day. You’re nervous. You want things to go smoothly. There’s always that bit of worry and anticipation.

“Will the adjudicators arrive on time? Are all of our accompanists here? Is the lighting in the various halls okay?

“But, so far so good,” said Pat. “The Classical Music and Ceol competitions have begun here in St Columb’s Hall and the Speech and Drama competitions are well underway in the Playhouse.”

Pat’s earliest feis memory was being taken to Feis Dhoire Cholmcille 1952 by his father, legendary musician James Mac Cafferty.

“My father, God rest him, and Tony Black, played for the Irish Dancing competitions in St Columb’s Hall. I went up and sat behind them, just a young boy, totally enthralled by the Feis because it was my first time being near the Feis.

“Subsequently then I would have sung the Boys’ Solo down in the Guildhall. Rather poorly,” added Pat laughing heartily, “much to my father’s annoyance. He used to say to me, ‘Could you not have learned that song?’

“I didn’t dance in the Feis, although I did dance at the céilís over in the Lourdes Hall. If I had danced, I would have got into the Little Gaelic Singers.

“The first time they went to the States, it was all ladies. The only men were Brendan de Glinn, who was dancing, and Micky McWilliams, who had a wonderful, wonderful voice. In fact, when they were in America, McWilliams got several offers to stay but he was a Derry man at heart. The same as my father.

“My father had an offer from a university over there. He went in and the choir was singing for him and it wasn’t a choral man who was doing it, it was an instrumental man, and my father said, within half an hour, he had them singing in parts. That was the genius he had.”

Pat sang in Derry Feis until he was 10 years old, when his voice started to break.

“I started singing again in 1962 as an adult. I won the Feis Solo. The funny thing about it was, I won it, you know why I won? I was the only one in for it.

“During the time we were organising for the Centenary Feis (2022) and Dana and all the other famous past competitors were being interviewed, I came across the actual feis book and there I was on the winners’ page - Pat Mac Cafferty - beside Rosemary Brown - winner of the girls’ solo.

“In our day too, we sang as adults. My sister Una [O’Somachain], God rest Maureen [Hegarty], Cissie [Parlour] and Gloria [Dorrity] and Charlie Meehan and Bertie Barrett and Pat O’Carroll and Jimmy Gallagher and Carita Kerr, we sand until we were married. I was almost in my 40s before I stopped singing. That was the era we sang in.

“This year we have the Stanford competition and the competitors are coming from Dublin, Belfast and everywhere.”
Pat became the Music Co-ordinator of Derry Feis following the death of his father in 1995.

“The Committee asked me to come in and I have been there ever since. I graduated to Music Co-ordinator, which I enjoy, although there is an awful lot of responsibility.

“Competitors don’t always have their music on time, they don’t always have the music in the proper way - which is a wee bit stressful for our accompanists.”

Pat also revealed he had won the John McCormack Medal at Dublin’s prestigious Feis Ceoil.

“For me, that was phenomenal,” he said. “How they awarded it was that the baritones, the tenors and the basses of the individual competitions came together in the final and I was lucky enough to win. I have it in the house. I treasure it.

“I remember meeting, God rest him, Seamus McDevitt, a wonderful tenor, and he said, ‘How did you get the John McCormack Medal and you an oil bass?’” laughed Pat.

“It was just my day and it worked out well,” he added self-deprecatingly. “We had to bring our own accompanists, believe it or not. I remember getting a lady called Trudi Carberry and Alison Smith.”

A reflective Pat said his Feis heart lay in St Columb’s Hall.

He added: “I would, quite a lot of times, been with my father for the next few years. He then moved down and took over as an accompanist in the Guildhall.

“Mrs O’Doherty, who was then the accompanist - who founded the Feis - was coming to the end of her time and daddy moved down there to take over. 

“Then, in 1962, Fr Daly came to Derry and started the Sunday Shows in the Hall and St Columb’s Hall then became unbelievably popular. The Sunday Shows graduated into the pantomimes and then the next thing was the 71 Players. This place was alive, with singing and dancing. You had the TA Band down below. It was just a hive of activity. 

“I remember saying to Bishop Daly, when we were interviewed in the Year of Culture, ‘What about the bingo, your Lordship?’

He brought bingo to Derry,” said Pat in hysterics. “St Columb’s Hall is just a wonderful building.”

Looking to the future of Derry Feis Pat stressed the importance of recruiting young people in to help.

He added: “Our committee members do Trojan work and if we want Feis Dhoire Cholmcille to  continue being as successful as it is in the decades ahead, we need younger people in to take it forward. 

“After all, Derry Feis is where our young people are learning the culture of Ireland and the culture of other countries.

“If you look at the past - the likes of Dana, Phil Coulter, Roma Downey, Gerald McChrystal, Paul Murphy, Frank Gallagher, Nodlaig Ní Bhrollaigh, Mairéad Carlin all started here.

“They came through the Feis. Their first faltering steps were on the Guildhall stage when they went up and sang and recited and played and danced. 

“Maybe that’s where they said, ‘This is my life’. Would they have done it if it hadn’t been for the Feis? I don’t think so.

“That is why I am so passionate about it,” concluded Pat, who, if he had any plans to hang up his Music Co-ordinator lanyard, was remaining tight-lipped.