WE were invaded at the weekend by elder daughter Siobhan who drove here from Donegal with our three grandchildren.
She’s taking a break from the isolation of living in a farmhouse miles from anywhere as husband Ronan McKee is involved in the start of the year of Derry – City of Culture. It’s a fine city with a phenomenal musical heritage and the events have been coming thick and fast.
Ronan and Siobhan met at Huddersfield University where they were both students. After he gained his music degree he taught in local schools for several years. He and Siobhan lived in Honley before returning to Ireland to form his own company, Play Percussion. He teaches in schools on both sides of the border and is in demand for orchestral work.
He specialises in African drumming and has travelled to Senegal three times for working seminars and helped raise thousands of pounds for education in the West African country. He also plays in the Delta Boys Blues Band and is an exponent of traditional Irish music. He took part in Land of Giants, the opening musical ceremony of the Titanic Museum in Belfast.
Ronan recently played in the Sons and Daughters concert in Derry, featuring artists from the city such as The Undertones, Phil Coulter, Paul Brady, Dana, Amanda Burton and James Nesbitt.
He is currently in rehearsal for more shows and has been engaged to perform his own concert later in the year as part of the cultural programme.
You can catch a glimpse of him playing Irish drums with the Emmett Conway Band in a clip from the Sons and Daughters concert on YouTube. It’s worth it for the music, the dancers and the fact that he’s wearing a kilt!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtOQK25kByA.
