Remembering Brendan Mulkere

Musician, Educator, Composer, Writer

Join us for an intimate evening of music and song performed by a generation of Irish traditional musicians, to celebrate the life of a legend, Brendan Mulkere.

Saturday 26th November 2022 at 7.00pm

Irish Cultural Centre Hammersmith

Tickets £20.

All proceeds donated to Clare Cancer Support

This magnificent concert “Remembering Brendan Mulkere” will bring to the stage up to 50 of the most accomplished Irish traditional musicians across the generations, who have all been taught, inspired, or influenced by the late, great Irish traditional music maestro, the legendary fiddler, composer and music tutor – Brendan Mulkere.

Brendan Mulkere was a huge inspiration to generations of traditional musicians and a key figure in the development of Irish music in Britain. Renowned for his dedication and passion for teaching, for more than four decades Brendan taught thousands of young musicians to play traditional Irish music and many of his students went on to carve out careers as leading Irish traditional musicians in their own right.

This incredibly special gathering will feature many of Brendan’s former students, some of whom are now acclaimed across the globe. Appearing alongside them will be many of Brendan’s musical peers, who are leading players on the Irish music circuit. These musicians are coming together, for this special one-off concert, to celebrate, remember and to pay homage to the great Irish music maestro Brendan Mulkere.

Among those appearing will be Claire & Sinéad Egan, Niall Keegan, John & James Carty, Seánín McDonagh, Lamond Gillespie, John Blake, Andy Martyn, John Bowe, Mick O’Connor, Paul Gallagher, Sean Clohessy, Mick Mulvey, Liam & Caroline Nolan, Terence O’Flaherty, The Searson Brothers and many more fabulous musicians on the night.

Brendan Mulkere 1942-2020

Originally from County Clare, Brendan Mulkere was a sublime composer, a master fiddle player and from the 1970’s onwards, after he had crossed the Irish shore to England, he was regarded as the unofficial ‘Irish music ambassador’ in London.

Brendan was the ‘Resident Music Tutor’ here at The Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith for 14 years, where he ran ‘The Mulkere Academy of Irish Music’. He taught fiddle, accordion, banjo and was known for calling his young students, (aged five upwards), his ‘jelly-babies’.  He also taught hundreds of adults and he was also a leading tutor at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance in Limerick University for almost 20 years.

Not only an outstanding music tutor, in the early 80’s Brendan, established ‘Áras na nGael’, (The Kilburn Irish Centre). He went onto set up ‘Síol Phadraig’, a month-long London-Irish arts festival, (from 1985 to 1993) alongside his good friend and writer Kevin Anderson. This was one of the first Irish arts festivals of its kind to be held here in the UK.

A sublime fiddler and composer, Brendan was a founding member of the infamous “Thatch Ceili Band”. Also, in 1974 he set up ‘Inchecronin Records’, through which he released several of his own albums and many albums by other artists, including Memories of Sligo by flute-player Roger Sherlock.

In 2015 after four decades of working in London, Brendan returned to his native Clare to play more music, teach more children and to inspire another generation. Upon his return he was honoured at the ‘Fleadh Nua’ in County Clare, for his huge contribution to Irish traditional music in Britain. Following which in 2019 TG4 awarded Brendan one of the highest Irish traditional music accolades, an ‘Outstanding Contribution’ Award at Gradam Ceoil.

Brendan Mulkere passed away on August 28th, 2020, leaving an awesome musical legacy behind him. His commitment to passing on the Irish music tradition has helped to ensure that great Irish music is kept alive and continues to thrive throughout the future generations.