Posted by Jim Yates on Thursday, April 3, 2008
In 1968 I was hitch-hiking in Ireland and in Kilkenny I was picked up by an older man who asked me,"Are you goin' to the Fleadh?" He then explained that a Fleadh Cheol was a music festival/competition and it was being held in New Ross that year.
On the way to New Ross he asked me if I'd ever heard of a dulcimer. I told him that I had records of Jean Ritchie and Richard Farina playing the dulcimer, thinking he was talking about a mountain dulcimer. When we stopped for lunch I got quite a surprise when he pulled out his hammered dulcimer. I'd never seen one before. We spent the day together and he told me many stories and played me many tunes. He said that he was in a movie, filmed in Kilkenny, called LOCK UP YOUR DAUGHTERS that had Christopher Plummer in it. I've seen this movie 3 or 4 times just to see the last scene where he plays the hammered dulcimer with the townfolks dancing around him in a huge circle.
I have had the photo that I took of him in a New Ross parking lot on my piano for many years, but I lost his name and address. This week I asked for information about him on sugarinthegourd.com and a fellow named Dick, screen name Ptarmigan, (I just realized that Dick Glasgow is a member of the BHO, also under the screen name Ptarmigan. Thanks again Dick.) told me that his name was Andy Dowling and that he was quite well known in Irish traditional music circles. Andy died in 1991 at the age of 92.
Below are the picture that Dick sent me of a young Andy Dowling playing with some friends and the picture that I took in 1968 in New Ross.
It's amazing the stuff you can find out on the internet.
3 comments on “Andy Dowling, Hammered Dulcimer Player”
PatDelahunty Says:
Sunday, November 18, 2012 @12:38:01 AM
Andy Dowling was my father's aunt's husband (my father's uncle I guess). They lived in The Commons in Tipperary for several years in the 60's until my father's aunt (Margaret Delahunty) died. The Delahuntys were well known in the area for their music evenings. Andy helped out running the the 'movie show' cinema in an annex to the Delahunty house.
Jim Yates Says:
Sunday, November 18, 2012 @7:47:11 AM
It's a small world Pat, and the internet makes it even smaller. Andy was certainly a nice man. I recall our day together fondly. He had a small kerosene stove and we bought some groceries and went and cooked our lunch at the side of the road. He went far out of his way to drop me off at the youth hostel that night and waited around to be sure it wasn't too late for me to get in. Andy would have been the same age as I am now.
Jim Yates Says:
Sunday, November 18, 2012 @8:02:11 AM
By the way, I am now married to a hammered dulcimer player.
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