Ulster History Circle Unveil Blue Plaque to Commemorate Much-Loved Derry Musician James MacCafferty

An Ulster History Circle Blue Plaque to Derry musician, James MacCafferty, was unveiled on Saturday (April 23). 

The Plaque was erected at James’ lifelong home, 25 Francis Street, Derry: the house where MacCafferty was born and lived for eighty years. 

It is also a home fondly remembered by hundreds of his former pupils: aspiring Feis entrants, lively choir members and a throng of piano and singing pupils.

James MacCafferty was a dedicated stalwart of Derry’s musical life for over six decades. Born in 1915, he had musical parents - both singers - and he grew up in a musical home where opera, church music and the annual Feis Doire competitions were central to family life. 

His parents, Patrick and Cissie, had met in the mid-1920s during rehearsals for one of Joseph O’Brien’s opera productions in Derry’s Opera House.

James himself became a musical polymath: a singing and piano teacher, choir trainer, accompanist, conductor and musical director. 

His musical career began in the mid-1930s and he was still teaching music a few weeks before his death in 1995. 

He formed, trained and conducted over twenty choirs, and was a lynchpin of both the Feis Doire (as official accompanist) and St Columb’s Hall, as its Musical Director. 

He also ran his own dance band, The Carlton Swingtette. Very few spheres of Derry’s musical life were untouched by James MacCafferty’s musical prowess.

Unlike some other leading Derry musicians who came to the city from elsewhere, MacCafferty had deep roots in Derry and with its people and it was perhaps as Choirmaster that he made his most lasting contribution to the city’s musical life. 

His choirs included The MacCafferty Singers, The Ten Columbians and The Little Gaelic Singers. The latter choir was formed in 1956 in collaboration with Brendan DeGlin, an Irish Dance teacher, and together they toured America four times, playing for Presidents and movie stars, including Bing Crosby. 

All MacCafferty’s choirs were unique in singing from memory - without music - as he felt that the use of scores hindered communication between singer and audience.

MacCafferty’s long association - sixty years plus - with the Feis Doire Colmcille will be well remembered this year at the Feis Centenary celebrations. 

Hundreds – if not thousands – of young Feis entrants will recall his unique skills in patiently supporting nervous contestants, calming their nerves and in adapting his accompaniments to their differing interpretations.

James MacCafferty was a skilled performer in his own right, but always seemed to prefer a supporting role. 

Although a versatile pianist with a gift for sight-reading and transposing at sight, he preferred to be out of the limelight. This was particularly so when he accompanied Derry-born tenor Josef Locke during his 1969 Blackpool summer season. Locke took centre-stage while James was the lowly paid piano accompanist.

MacCafferty is still remembered with great affection by many of his former pupils, choir members and friends who are delighted that the Blue Plaque is finally coming to fruition. 

There were many of them at the Plaque unveiling, alongside his family, keen to ensure that MacCafferty’s musical legacy is well celebrated and fondly recalled.

James' son, Pat MacCafferty, said: "This plaque is the result of almost 10 years of work. I submitted on behalf of my father, along with the co-founder of Feis Doire Colmcille, Mrs O'Doherty and Redmond Friel, for recognition of his legacy.

"This means so much to our family, after all these years, that the place where my father spent his whole life will be marked for the people of Derry who remember so fondly going in and out of our house for singing.

"When we look back on our memories of a house which was rarely empty, a house that Frank Carson called 25 Frantic Street, for us, it was a wonderful home.

"When you think of all the singers who came for lessons for the Feis concerts, the panto broadcast, it was also there that he started his school of music which is still going on today, it is remarkable. Last Saturday, we were a very proud family."

Chris Spurr, Chairman of the Ulster History Circle, said: "James MacCafferty was an outstanding man of music, who delighted countless thousands through his exceptional talents. 

"One hundred years since the first Feis Doire Colmcille, the Ulster History Circle is delighted to commemorate this renowned musician, teacher, choirmaster and Feis accompanist with a blue plaque at the house where he lived all his life.

"The Circle would like to thank Derry City and Strabane District Council for their financial support towards the plaque and the MacCafferty family for their valued assistance."

The James MacCafferty Blue Plaque is the second ‘musical’ plaque in the city this year. 

An Ulster History Circle Blue Plaque was unveiled to composer Redmond Friel in February past, and two further musical plaques will be unveiled within the next eighteen months to song-writer Dorothy Parke, and then renowned singer, Joseph Locke.