We snatched a moment with Hugh at half time to find out what his music means to him:
“I come from an Irish family so my dad played folk, my granny played folk, my great granddad played folk. It just started when I was younger, really. It’s always been in my life.
“I play the button accordion, which is traditional to Irish music and similar to many other accordions, but it’s kind of specific to the style.
“I learnt the accordion by ear, so if I hear a song on a CD I’ll learn it, if I hear one in a pub, I’ll record it on my phone, and learn it when I get home. That’s always been the way in Irish and Scottish traditional music, that you learn it off somebody and they pass it down.
“I guess that’s what we aspire to, really, to mix the genre of traditional music that you hear in a pub with other styles that are a bit more souly and jazzy and whatnot.”
The next Folk In The Foyer event is on 27 November at 6pm.
A monthly music night, established last month at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, hopes to promote interest in Cardiff’s Celtic heritage.
David Grubb, who runs the RWCMD Folk Society, set up the nights to redress the lack of awareness of traditional music in the capital city. The nights are called Folk In The Foyer, and are free to attend.
Hugh Sheehan’s ancestral accordion melodies reeled in the audiences at the RWCMD last Tuesday. He said, “The folk scene in Cardiff is not huge, to be honest, so we’re doing our best to contribute.”
The rapt attention of the audience before Hugh and his accordion last week suggested that Celtic culture might have finally found its place: traditional is the new offbeat.
We snatched a moment with Hugh at half time to find out what his music means to him:
“I come from an Irish family so my dad played folk, my granny played folk, my great granddad played folk. It just started when I was younger, really. It’s always been in my life.
“I play the button accordion, which is traditional to Irish music and similar to many other accordions, but it’s kind of specific to the style.
“I learnt the accordion by ear, so if I hear a song on a CD I’ll learn it, if I hear one in a pub, I’ll record it on my phone, and learn it when I get home. That’s always been the way in Irish and Scottish traditional music, that you learn it off somebody and they pass it down.
“I guess that’s what we aspire to, really, to mix the genre of traditional music that you hear in a pub with other styles that are a bit more souly and jazzy and whatnot.”
The next Folk In The Foyer event is on 27 November at 6pm.