Kildare musician's song features on Christy Moore’s new album
Pete Kavanagh and Christy Moore in the Killashee Hotel after Christy's performance
Naas folk musician, Pete Kavanagh’s song was chosen by Christy Moore to be featured on his new album, .
The story behind the song comes from Newbridge in the year 1921. Pete came across the story from local historian James Durney and decided to document the tragedy through song.
Pete said: “It's an event that happened in 1921 in Newbridge just as the war of Independence was coming to an end. It happened in the NAAFI (Navy, Army and Air Force Institute) store, located where Finlay's garage is now in Newbridge.
“And the NAAFI’s were stock full of supplies for the British soldiers. So one of the ways that the IRA would target the British at the time was to target the provisions. The store in Newbridge was targeted. And up above the store, unbeknownst to the IRA rebels, there was a family that lived with the caretaker of the store whose name was Bill Doran. They held Bill Doran hostage and they took what they wanted from the store and loaded it on a truck. Anything that they didn't want to take was covered with paraffin oil to render it useless.
"And so when Bill Doran had come down from downstairs with a lit candle, unfortunately it ignited the paraffin. The store went open and exploded in fire. And the result was that his wife Bridget and his son John were both killed, and his other son William was badly burnt.
“This event divided the town and some people came down on the side with sympathy for the rebels and some people came down and said that this is should never have happened.”
Some time ago, Pete decided to perform the song in front of friends at the Red Hot Music Club, Fallons' pub, Kilcullen. There Cllr Noel Heavy, a friend of Christy Moore’s, approached Pete, reckoning that Christy would be interested in hearing it.
A few weeks later, Pete got a call from the man himself. He said: “The phone rang, and once I heard that voice coming over the phone I sat up straight in the bed. He said, this is Christy Moore, and I really love the song. Christy is a hero of mine. When I first learned guitar back in Sarto Park, all those years ago, you'd be learning and . To have him then on the other end of the phone talking about this song was incredible.”
Talking about the significance of , he said: “Now that the story has gone into a song that Christy Moore has sung, it kind of immortalises the story and the Doran family will never be forgotten."
Since this musical milestone, Pete has been booked and busy with a show coming up in the Moat Theatre, Naas on Thursday 13 February ‘Songwriters in the Round’. Pete will be performing alongside talented songwriters Phillip Scott and Sive. Definitely not one to miss!
