Tribute to Musician Junior Davey (Bodhrán & Bones Player)

Junior Davey comes from a family deeply rooted in the rich musical tradition of South Sligo and is highly respected as one of the finest exponents on the bodhrán, having won the Senior All-Ireland Bodhrán competition on 5 occasions. He is a highly sought after percussion tutor, equally adept on the bones as the bodhrán and with an innate understanding of the music he grew up with.

This Tribute to Junior is very fitting, given his longstanding involvement with the summer school, having first taught bodhrán when the instrument was introduced to the workshops schedule back in 1990 and having given contributed in no small way in the intervening years to the enduring success and popularity of the bodhrán workshops at the summer school year on year.

The first ever Tribute Concert held by the South Sligo Summer School organising committee on Thursday, 18th July, 2002 was in honour of Junior's dad, the late Andrew Davey, a fiddle player steeped in the South Sligo tradition who shared his talent, experience and warm, witty personality with many of our summer school fiddle students in those early years.

Junior has carried on his father's legacy in spades. The impact of his teaching on attendees of his workshops cannot be understated, not just in musical terms, but in equal measure his teaching approach has cultivated a sense of fun and wellbeing amongst his pupils, through his attention to detail and sheer hard work every year in preparing his class for the Thursday evening bodhrán recital, always one of the week's highlights for our appreciative audiences.

Be part of that audience at this year's summer school, kicking off with this special tribute to Junior Davey on Monday, 15th July.