THOM Moore, Aminah Hughes and Seamie O’Dowd will be the guests of the Island Music Club at Minogue’s of Tulla on Friday night at 9.15pm.The set will largely consist of songs written by all three, who have been playing together for the last year or so.Aminah Hughes has a voice that has been described as haunting and beautiful. An Australian, she is working towards her first album and has performed with Tommy Emmanuel, the Máirtín O’Connor trio and Aussie rock legend Robert James.Sligo’s Séamie O’Dowd has performed around the world and worked with the likes of Cathal Hayden and Dervish. Thom Moore has been a major influence on contemporary acoustic songwriting and performance in Ireland since the 1970s.A talented songwriter, he was born in the US but says there are very few American influences on his work. “I’ve only written one song that has ever been done in an American context, it was a song called Saw you running which …

WHERE better to be for the May Bank Holiday than in one of Ireland’s most famous music villages. Kilfenora is staging its third annual music festival from this Thursday to Monday, May 2.Contributing to the village’s uniqueness are a web of local families who have played in groups and céilí bands for around 140 years, starting with a fife and drum band in the 1870s and brass and reed band in the 1900s. Kilfenora’s most famous céilí band celebrated its centenary in 2009 and will be appearing at home in a special concert during the festival. The concert with the Kilfenora Céilí Band will take place in the village hall that past members helped to build in 1954 this Friday at 8pm.Other highlights of the festival include a Céilí Mór on Saturday at 9.30pm in Kilfenora Hall with the Shaskeen Céilí Band, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2010.There will be further céilís with the Four Courts Band starring various …

AN evening of Indian classical music will be held in the Blue Frog Café, Ennistymon this Saturday at 9pm. Raga Mala is an Indian-style performance concept envisioned by Australian born Sarode player, Mattu Noone.  Raga Mala means “garland of ragas” and the idea of the performance is to present the subtle beauty of Indian classical music through a variety of mediums. The music will be performed by Mattu on sarode (Indian lute), Dara O’ Brien (sitar) and Sadanand Magee (tabla).All three musicians have many years experience with their instruments and teach students in Ireland. Both Dara and Mattu will present two different ragas in the North Indian tradition but will tell the story of the piece beforehand. Utilising projections, the trio will draw on famous paintings that embody the pieces they will perform. Indian spiced tea (chai) will be served and there will be Indian food available. The audience will be invited to sit comfortably and absorb the music as …

CLARE Music Education Partnership anxiously awaits the outcome of an application to Music Network for a slice of the €7 million being made available by U2 and the Ireland Fund for establishment of local music education partnerships.The County Vocational Education Committee, in co-operation with Maoin Cheoil an Chláir, led the establishment of the Clare partnership to advance the development of a cohesive framework for the promotion of music education as a result of the new funding offer.Representatives from the local music infrastructure, the local authority and the vocational education committee set up the partnership after receiving over 40 contributions from a broad range of interests. These included music teachers and schools, independent musicians, community groups, youth and family resource groups, primary schools and parents associations.Clare MEP believes music ought to be a central and indispensable facet of a rounded education and part of the lifelong learning agency. The MEP’s vision is that Clare will become recognised as the music-learning county. …

More than 100 musicians took part in an Easter Sunday concert in Kinvara in aid of Japanese tsunami victims. Coole Music hosted the event on Sunday that featured performers from different countries. The event began at 6pm in Kinvara Community Centre and was deemed a resounding success by organisers.The programme featured rock and classical music as well as folk tunes and well-known melodies and brought young musicians from across the country and abroad together. East Clare Young Musicians, Kinvara Young Musicians, Coole Kidz and the Coole Music Project Orchestra were joined by Scandinavian group Alandia Strings. Violinist Yuki Nisioka, who is from Japan, joined the young people from South Galway for the performances.

The annual Fleadh na gCuach (Cuckoo Fleadh) will take place from this Friday to Monday, May 2, in Kinvara. This long established festival is in its 18th year and is the kick-start to the summer for the people of South Galway and North Clare.This year’s festival will have the usual mix of traditional music sessions, singing sessions, set dancing and poetry readings.Musicians this year include Siobhán Peoples, Murt Ryan, Tara Breen, Charlie Harris, Alan Kelly, Liam Lewis, Josephine Marsh, Angelina Carberry, Manus McGuire, Gary O’Briain, Paraic Keane, Des Mulchair, Oisin MacDiarmada, Paul Finn, Mary Shannon, Mary Staunton, Bobby Gardiner, Eoin O’Neill, Andrew McNamara, Tom Cussen and Dermot Byrne to name but a few. There will also be musical activities and a puppet show for children. The Glenside Ceilí band will provide the music for The Cuckoo Ceilí in Kinvara Community Centre on Saturday April 30 at 10pm for what organisers say will be a fantastic night. “Things have picked up …

RAIDIÓ Corca Baiscinn will broadcast a documentary entitled The Music Makers this Thursday at 6pm and will be repeated next Monday at 4pm. The documentary will focus on traditional music makers in the region. West Clare is renowned for its traditional music and there are regular festivals around the area celebrating their skills. It is possible to listen to the highest quality traditional music almost every night of the year.What is not quite so well known is that there are craftspeople tucked away in workshops across West Clare producing the instruments these musicians need. Often they are fine musicians in their own right, who have taken their skills to another level by actually learning how to make their instruments. This programme looks at two makers of instruments; Derrick Gleeson, a maker of uilleann pipes, and Macdara Tobín, a maker of guitars, mandolins and bouzoukis.The programme explores the huge range of skills needed to produce a set of uilleann pipes, from …

THE Market Bar in Miltown Malbay will host Laura Cortese’s Acoustic Project featuring Mariel Vandersteel and Valerie Thompson on Friday from 9pm. Laura Cortese has emerged among the most intriguing and versatile musicians in the bountiful New England post-folk scene. At home in any number of traditional styles, her highly visible work as a supporting musician (on fiddle, vocals, and bass) includes appearances with Uncle Earl, Tao Rodriguez Seeger, Band of Horses, and, as part of Pete Seeger’s 90th birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden, Patterson Hood and Michael Franti. The past few years have found Cortese in creative overdrive, balancing sideman duties, solo tours, and recording sessions. 2010 began with Cortese gearing up to release an EP trilogy, which will be followed by a full-length LP. Tireless and always looking to the future, Laura Cortese is excited to put the finishing touches on what she feels is her most vivid statement yet. “This EP series,” she reflects. “gave me …