Teileann (Teelin)
Teileann (or in English Teelin) is a small coastal village best known
for two things: fishing and traditional fiddle music. Indeed the renowned folklore
collector Sean Ó hEochaidh who was born here claims that Teileann can be known equally as
‘Teileann an Éisc’ and ‘Teileann an tSeanchais agus an Cheoil’ -
‘Teelin of the Fish’ and ‘Teelin of Tradition and Music’. Teileann is
some two miles south of An Charraig on an inlet at the eastern end of the Sliabh
a’Liag sea cliffs.
While nowadays Teileann’s fishing harbour is small compared to
its near neighbour in Killybegs, the area has a long history of fishing, although. This
was not always the case, for the village has featured in maritime maps since the 1320s,
and the "village for herringe and sometymes for salmon in the creek or bay
Teelin" was notedin a document dating from 1608. As recently as 1898 the village was
the leading cod fishing port in Ireland, and five years earlier the Coast Guard based in
Killybegs noted that the greatest volume of landings in his division was not in Killybegs
itself but in Teileann. It is still a centre for inshore fishing and small-scale
commercial fishing, but is today better known as a centre for Donegal fiddle music.
Teileann is renowned as a place to hear traditional music of the
highest order, but it was always so. At the end of the 19th and beginning of
the 20th centuries the music of the Teileann area was said to be basic in style
with little rhythmic variation or ornamentation. Local tradition credits the travelling
fiddlers of the Doherty and McConnell families for enhancing the local style and
repertoire. Greatest amongst their adherents were the Cassidys, the brothers Paddy,
Johnnie and Frank and their cousin Con. According to the account of Donegal fiddle music
written by Caoimhín Mac Aoidh, the Cassidys "combined to form one of the most
incredible forces in Irish music" in the century just ended. The legacy of the
Cassidys, and of other local musicians such as Mick McShane, Jimmy Lyons, and Francie and
Jimmy Kelly is still honoured, and the visitor will not have to go far to listen to
fiddling of the highest quality in this small coastal village.
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