Traditions and tunes: Celtic Studies alums brighten Milwaukee's Irish music scene

When the members of áthas were searching for their band name, they didn’t get much further than the “A” section of the Irish language dictionary.

“Áthas is the Irish word for ‘joy and happiness,’” said guitarist Jeff Ksiazek, though, he admits, “When I call someplace to book a gig, I purposely Americanize it. I tried using the Irish pronunciation one time and people thought I was saying ‘office.’”

Joy and happiness are exactly what the trio delivers each time they play. With Ksiazek on guitar, Heather Lewin on fiddle, and Amy Richter on bodhrán (Irish drum), the band has been a staple in Milwaukee’s Irish music scene for almost 15 years, reeling out toetapping jigs and catchy hornpipes at every event from Irish Fest to the UWM Celtic Studies graduation celebration.

Listen to the band play at https://youtu.be/JfqVJzU5XIg.

(From left to right) Jeff Ksiazek, Amy Richter, and Heather Lewin play Irish music at a festival. Each holds a certificate in Celtic Studies from UWM.

Music in Milwaukee

You might not expect it from a city primarily built by German immigrants, but Milwaukee’s Irish music scene is second only to Chicago, Boston, and New York City. That’s thanks to a contingent of Irish immigrants who brought their own music traditions with them to their new home, Ksiazek said.

“This is one thing I dived into in my work with (Irish music) archives,” he explained. “If you go back through old newspapers, the earliest mention I found of a concert featuring Irish music was 1856. From there, there were more and more performances of noted Irish musicians from Chicago and some prominent touring musicians.”

The newspapers also listed the winners of dancing competitions held by the Ancient Order of Hibernians.

“Some of the last names are starting to change from typical Irish last names to German last names as the communities started to intermarry. You’d start to have

second- and third-generation Irish Americans taking on the tradition,” Ksiazek said.

Irish music fell out of favor in Milwaukee by 1940, but it came roaring back to full vibrancy by 1990 as Milwaukee Irish fest popularized the genre once again.

The Irish tradition

Richter has a guess to why the music catches people’s attention: Anyone can play.

“It’s an orally passed down tradition and it’s a lot of repetition, and you can pick it up without having to read music,” she said. “And when you’re not reading music, you’re looking at the people while you’re playing with them. It’s a very social kind of music. I was very shy growing up, and it really pulled me out of my shell.”

Irish music is typically divided into certain types of tunes, like reels, jigs, polkas, slip jigs, or hornpipes. Musicians gather for sessions, where everyone comes together to show off their skills and play with each other. Players will craft sets by stringing together two or three tunes with matching beats.

Musicians will often play at ceilis, or parties, or they might provide the music for Irish set dancers. In fact, that’s how Lewin got her start in Irish music: To celebrate a coworker’s birthday, Lewin’s entire office went Irish dancing at a pub. She was intrigued by the dancing and the musicians and returned each week until she began playing for the dancers herself.

Ksiazek got his start thanks to radio. Already a talented saxophone player, he was listening to NPR one day and heard an Irish music program. The fingerings for the tin whistle and saxophone were similar, so he decided to try his hand at the new instrument and fell head-first into Irish music.

Richter owes her interest in Irish music to Riverdance and the UWM Celtic Studies program. Riverdance was the first time she was exposed to Irish music and dance, and she pursued that interest by taking a tin whistle class through the Celtic Studies program. “My teacher took me to a session as my final exam. I met a bodhrán player and I fell in love with the bodhrán. I thought, okay, this is what I’m supposed to be doing.”

Celtic Studies at UWM

Ksiazek, Lewin, and Richter formed áthas in 2005 after they kept bumping into each other at sessions around Milwaukee. At the time, all three were working toward a certificate in Celtic Studies at UWM, which gives students a thorough grounding in Irish and Celtic culture, history, language, and literature. All of that education has proved invaluable.

“The dance tradition informs Irish music; the Irish language informs Irish music,” Ksiazek said. “Having a good basis for understanding what goes into Irish culture gave me a solid footing for Irish music.”

“We’ve been to Ireland a bunch of times. Learning about the culture before we went was huge. None of that would have happened if not for the Celtic Studies program,” added Lewin, who also earned a bachelor’s degree from UWM with majors in anthropology and American Indian Studies.

Those trips to Ireland have been exciting; Lewin recalls one trip where she approached a street musician playing his whistle and accidentally started a town-wide session that took up two pubs.

That’s the beauty of Irish music, she said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re actually Irish; it doesn’t matter how old you are or what your ability is. It’s an oral tradition, so you can learn something from every person you meet.”

By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science