By Tyler Wright
At Micawber Tavern in Belgrave, a group of local teachers came together to perform traditional Irish jigs in honour St Patrick’s Day.
The newly-formed band titled ‘The Kerrys’ performed a mix of instrumental songs and vocals with the guitar, fiddle, Irish flute, piano and accordian on Friday 17 March.
Flautist Evonne Hampton created the band at the start of 2023 after discovering herself fellow music teacher Penny shared a common love of Celtic music.
“She loves that type of fiddle playing, and of course I got excited when I was in Ireland and bought myself the Irish flute,” Ms Hampton said.
“The other members of the band; my husband on the piano accordion and Penny’s partner on the guitar.
“It was one of those things that grew and we went ‘hey, let’s get out in the community and play.'”
Ms Hampton said she has connected with the operator of the Victorian Irish Dancing Academy in Tecoma, collaborating with the dancers – who also joined their performance on St Patrick’s Day – by going along to their rehearsals and learning more about Irish dance.
“Being the type of music it is, you can have musicians coming in and out and we’re actually meeting a heap of people as well,” Ms Hampton said.
“Everyone I talk to, someone goes, ‘oh, I know someone who’s into this type of music, so we’ve got people approaching us for jams and things; It’s really lovely.”
Ms Hampton’s connection to Ireland strings from her husband James’ Irish heritage, and a visiting to the country a year after the pair married.
“We went to Ireland so that I could meet all the extended family… they hired out a pub in Ireland, in Cork, and it was just a whole night of singing and playing and dancing and music and laughs and stories, and it was just such a lovely culture,” she said.
“I bought this Irish flute in Cork, I played it in this Irish pub in Cork, and it was just lovely to have that tradition that they have in their music and with their gatherings, and then to have the opportunity to replicate a little bit of that feeling here in the Dandenong Ranges is really fun.”
Ms Hampton’s children are also involved in Irish dancing – with her son enrolled in a local ‘Little Leprechauns’ dance class.
“We seem to have a community of people who are really enjoying it as well,” she said.
“It’s really nice to be connected to my local community and it seems just another way. collaborating with people, dancing, local venues, local musicians.”
