The Scots Gaelic poet Somhairle MacGill-Eain speaks of those special people in every community whom he calls ‘the tradition-bearers’.
A tradition-bearer is someone who carries with them or, more specifically, within them, the knowledge and understanding of what makes them a people.
Mostly living amongst those people, through language, music, song, dance and the multitude of other things which give expression to a tradition or culture, they bring about a sense of identity and belonging.
They span space and time, and they can bring a sense of confidence and contentment wherever they go. They may be few but they are invaluable – they bring a whole culture to life through what they say and do, through the stories they tell and the traditions they plant.
Amid all the complexities of his life and how he lived it, Dinny McLaughlin (White Harra) was surely a tradition-bearer.
Dinny was born on Low Sunday, April 28 1935, in the house where he lived all his life in Shandrum, near Buncrana.
He was the youngest of six children born to James and Mary McLaughlin – as he put it himself, “the shakings of the poke”. Only his sisters Annie Devlin and Bridget McGonagle outlive him.
While money was scare and luxuries few, Dinny’s quick eye and keen ear meant he gathered the rich lore and melodies he saw and heard.
Having listened to Pat Mulhern, across the moor in Fallask, Dinny desperately wanted a fiddle from the age of six.
In the ceilidhing which went on in the houses and the gatherings that took place from time to time and place to place, he picked up so much of what he then, in his turn, taught to other generations.
Through Dinny White Harra and Pat Mulhern, a whole revival of music and dance, language and culture took root in this part of Inishowen.
In our heart of hearts we know the truth of the phrase ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine – that as a people we live in the shelter of one another.
There were many who took shelter in the lea of Dinny White Harra; many whose gifts and talents he nurtured and developed.
As a teacher, he was strict and demanding for he knew he had to draw out the treasure he could see within.
St Oran’s School of Dancing, St Mary’s School of Dancing, Comhaltas Craobh na hInse; fiddle, whistle, flute, piano, guitar, pipes, harp, piano accordion, melodeon, concertina; feisanna, fleadhs, sessions and more – all memories of this man who became the Pied Piper of Shandrum.
When you begin to learn to play or sing or dance, you have to slavishly perfect the notes, the rhythm and pitch, as they are written down. But with time and practice, as Dinny might say, you can play it by ear, injecting life and freedom into the piece.
The result is a completely transformed performance where the soul of the music has met the soul of the musician and the magic can then be heard and seen to flow.
In some ways it is an out-of-body mystical experience, a sacramental moment when the God-given gifts of goodness, truth and beauty come to the fore.
Like so many other geniuses, Dinny had his flaws. By times they were more obvious than our own. By dint of talent, though, Dinny still produced a rich harvest.
Dinny McLaughlin, Dinny White Harra, a man with the mind of a genius, the heart of a lion, the eye of a sniper, the ear of a fox, the fingers of a surgeon, the feet of a ballerina, and, yes, the soul of a priest – we pray today that at the touch of his Master’s Hand outstretched to him now in tender mercy and warm welcome, he will find his place among the saints and the caroling angels above.
Ní bheidh a leithéid arís ann. May Dinny rest in peace.
Dinny McLaughlin died aged 89 on December 16. He was laid to rest after Requiem Mass at St Mary’s Church, Cockhill, Buncrana.
Fr Francis Bradley