It was the night the gladiators of traditional Irish music came from the four quarters of the land to salute our own chieftain of Ceol Traidisiúnta na h-Eireann in a scenic setting on the shores of Lough Erne.

Kevin O’Loughlin from Keenaghan, Belleek has always had the gravitas and grace of a Gaelic chief—a tall, handsome man with magic fingers that made him a three-time All-Ireland champion on the three-row button accordion in the 1960s.

Like many great artists, music has been the breath of life for Kevin, and he never stopped smiling as he played over many years, as his special gift gave him and us so much pleasure.

But there was never a scintilla of ego or nonsense about a man who commands huge respect for his undying artistry. Despite all his gifts, he has stayed grounded and modest, and that was why it took him a while to come to terms with a surprise 80th birthday party which was organised with military precision by his son Kevin and daughter Fiona. They cajoled him to come out to the lovely Dulrush Fishing lodge where upwards of 70 of his family and friends were gathered to honour a real champion.

And the smile on his face was nearly as wide as Lough Erne as he embraced old comrades, masters of mesmeric accordions, singing fiddles, pinging banjos, and some of the finest flute players around. It was an unforgettable scene of banter and bonhomie.

“It’s like a dream,” he said as he embraced his old friends who had come from Fermanagh, Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Galway, Cork, and Waterford who made the long journey to Dulrush to celebrate one of their brightest stars in the only way they could.

And then, for an hour and a half after, a good mealtime stood still as we listened to the champions of Ireland playing with our own great champion. There is something truly magical about traditional Irish music. It soothes the soul, it lifts the spirit, and you are carried on the wings of the wind.

John Daly from Cork is a magnificent fiddle player and he and the force of nature that is the one and only Oliver Diviney from Galway playing together was an experience to behold. Oliver, who bears a passing resemblance to Bruce Willis told this writer: “Every time I play it is my whole life.” When asked what he thought of Kevin, he said simply: “I would go to the moon for him.”

Oliver plays with his body, his heart, and his soul, and music is his eternal Muse. There is a manic quality to his playing that is infectious.

Speaking to both men it is clear that Kevin is one of their heroes and they point to his compositions like Kevin Loughlin’s jigs, A tribute to Billy Maguire and a famous Assaroe March which he wrote for the Assaroe Ceili Band which he played with from around 1960 to 1966. But there were quite a few gifted local artists including Michael Curran from Fivemiletown who is an All-Ireland accordion champion, Francie Rasdale and Gary Curley from Boho, Michael Leonard from Glenfarne in Leitrim, Breege Kelly, ex-Assaroe Ceili Band player, Patricia Muldoon from Dromore, Jim Connolly from Leitrim, Kathleen Meehan from Casheld and Luke McGinley from Belcoo.

Kevin has appeared on RTE on several occasions including on a program called “From Glen to Glen”, “The Dermot O’Brien Show”, and on the famous RTE Saturday night Ceili House. He has also played with the late great Sean Maguire from Belfast with whom he made LPs and also with another master of the bow and fellow Belleek man John Joe Gordon with whom he played all over the northwest and the great Jimmy Shand from Scotland.

But one of more poignant moments of this memorable night under the Blue Barrs of Maghoo was Kevin playing the accordion with his twelve-year-old grandson Thomas handing on the tradition further future generations just as Kevin took his inspiration from his father Packie O’Loughlin who was a renowned fiddle player.

“I am just so delighted to see so many of my fellow musicians here tonight and it is a very emotional night,” he told The Impartial Reporter. “Music has been a huge part of my life and I have made so many friends from it over the years, but I was not expecting anything like this tonight. “It is quite overwhelming.”

He added: “I was told I was coming out to view the Vintage cars and I fell for it. “There are some great musicians here tonight and they are from all over Ireland. “I was in the Assaroe Ceili Band and we recorded an LP for Walton’s in Dublin. “They were looking for a march and I had it sort of in my head and then I composed it and called it “The Assaroe March” and “Maguires Welcome To Fermanagh”. “I was playing a piece in the house and Billy recorded it in Scotland and he put the title “Maguires Welcome To Fermanagh”. “I composed a few jigs and Josephine Keegan recorded them first and she played piano with Sean Maguire.”

He added: “The first All-Ireland title I won was in 1964 at the Fleadh in Clones, in 1967 in Enniscorthy and in Clones again in 1968. “And I won the Hohner National Accordion Championship in the Mansion House in 1970. “I just loved playing and a night like this is always extra special.”

The renowned Assaroe Ceili Band was founded in 1949 by a Ballyshannon man called Cyril Curran who played the drums. “I joined the band in 1960 when I was 15 and I did my first live broadcast with them live on Radio Eireann as it was then. “It was on Ceili House and it was presented by a man called Sean O’Murchú and I was young and had no nerves.” “I played with Dermot O’Brien who had his own show on RTE in the early 1970s and he asked me to play, and I thought it very nice of him because there are a lot of accordion players between Belleek and Dublin.”

Kevin played with the Assaroe Band until 1966 and the scene was changing from ceili bands to ceili showbands and country and western were coming in. “That is when I left and went to work in Belleek Pottery, and I had two reasons for that—one was that I had travelled all over Ireland for six years and I had that out of my system. “The second was I started going out with a girl called Goretti Keenan from Farrancassidy who later became my wife.”

And then he segues into a story about the first Fermanagh Fleadh that was held which was in Lisnaskea in the late 1960s. “Joe Tunney, who was a good accordion player, told me there was a Comhaltas Branch after being formed in Mulleek and he was under pressure from them to put in an entry and he asked me to play in a Ceili band and we entered and won. “Now the lineup was Joe and myself on accordions, Seamus Doherty on drums, Angela McGroarty on piano and we had a very strong strings section as we had Eddie Moore, Philip Breen, Mick Heron, J D Ward and Frank McGee on fiddles….all from around Belleek. “That was an orchestra, and we were called the Mulleek Comhaltas Ceili Band.”

Kevin had an interest in Continental music, and he won the Hohner final in the Mansion House which was a sort of accordion All-Ireland title as well.” Kevin then spoke of his long association with great Belleek fiddler John Joe Gordon for many years. “John Joe Gordon was a great fan of Sean Maguire who had a TV series from Glen to Glen in the 1970s and John Joe approached me and said he would love to go into the Thatch pub in Ballyshannon some night for a tune.” And that was the start of a partnership that lasted over a decade and produced two albums—one was called “The Loughsiders” and the other one was “Traditional Music From Belleek” and they were accompanied by Mairead McCann.

“We had some great times together and the pub scene was good in those years.” “We also played in the Thatch and The Lantern in Ballyshannon and we got on very well.” “John Joe Gordon was a fine fiddle player.”

But he had a great accordion player beside him—our very own chieftain of Ceol Traidisiunta na hEireann. And then he strolled off to join the other gladiators of Gaelic music.

And then he strapped on the accordion and the session started in earnest. What followed was just magic on a starless night as the music rang out across Lough Erne and soared high over the Cliffs of Mahoo.