Home » Tag Archives: festival

Tag Archives: festival

Ennis to craic on with its biggest Tradfest yet

ENNIS is set to host the 28th Annual Ennis Tradfest this November with a line up of top international, national and local traditional music stars. Amongst the stars will be Anxo Lorenzo, a virtuoso award-winning Galician piper renowned for his energetic and inspiring performances.  Over 1,000 are expected to travel from the US, Canada, Spain and the UK for Ennis Tradfest 2022.  From its early years, Ennis Tradfest has established itself as one of the most vibrant and dynamic traditional music festivals in Ireland with fans and visitors returning year after year. Michael ‘Blackie’ O’Connell, widely recognised as one of the best pipers in the world, has been tirelessly building this festival over the years into an extravaganza of traditional music.  Tradfest 2022 is no exception, boasting a stellar line-up of musicians including the Galician Anxo Lorenzo Band, legends Sean Keane (formerly of The Chieftains) and Gay Mc Keon, John Carty and Mike McGoldrick, Damien and Conor Connolly and popular concert band Jiggy.   …

Read More »

Clare Harpers join Harps Alive Festival line-up

CLARE harpers Aisling Lyons and Paul Dooley will be performing as part of the Harps Alive | An Chruit Bheo | Harps Leevin festival in Belfast this weekend. Known as one of the finest musicians in traditional music, Aisling Lyons is a multi-award winning musician and composer. With performances all around the globe and eight All-Ireland titles under her belt, Aisling is the current harp tutor at the University of Limerick and University College Cork. Aisling will be one of fifteen harpers to perform at the Commemorative Concert on Saturday, July 16; a recreation of the Belfast Harpers Assembly 230 years ago. Early Irish harp maker and musician, Paul Dooley is a leading exponent of the Irish harp in its traditional form and style. After studying the construction of medieval Irish harps in the 1980s, Paul’s performing career began in 1986 and has since continued to flourish. Specialising in traditional Irish dance music, a difficult genre from the harp, Paul …

Read More »

Shannon summer music festival to spread the joy

THE Shannon Summer Music Festival will take place on this Saturday, June 11, in the Town Park.  It is being organised by Chris Walshe and he said there will be something for all age groups on the day. “It starts at 2pm and from 2-6pm we’ll have children’s entertainment. We’ll have face painting, balloon modellers, kiddies disco and we’ll have a DJ. From 6pm on it’ll be live music on the main stage in the Park.” All of the acts during the evening are local. “First up we have the Kirby brothers, then we have Adam Moloney, then we have a band called North of Fortitude, then we’ve a band called the Mangled Badgers. “The last band then, the headliners, is a band called Sticky September. You might know the bands One September and Sticky Fingers. The two of those are joining forces for the evening.” It is the first major outdoor event in the town for several years and …

Read More »

Call & Response festival sparking creativity in Clare

A HANDBALL alley in West Clare might not seem like the obvious place to showcase artistic talent, however this weekend at Querrin Pier the local sports facility will play host to a visual workshop for teenagers. The workshop with artist Ruth Wood is just one of many events taking place in the county as part of this year’s Call & Response youth music and arts festival presented by Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board’s Local Creative Youth Partnership. The festival, which kicks off on Culture Night in Clare, will bring a host of free creative events to the young people of the county including the launch of a new pilot theatre project in Kilkee. Monica Spencer, Creative Youth Partnership Co-ordinator with the Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board tells us that Call & Response is all about encouraging and engaging youth voices. “The name of the festival came from the call and response term in music, but really …

Read More »

Fleadh Nua hits the right note by going online

THIS year’s Fleadh Nua has struck a right note with plans to move online while also raising vital funds for charity. Like many other events around the county, this year’s Fleadh Nua in Ennis has been cancelled as a result of Covid-19. However in a bid not to disappoint the thousands of regular Fleadh goers from around the country and overseas, organisers of are putting together an online programme of traditional music, song and dance and seeking to raise much needed funds for Trocaire in the process. “When people heard that this year’s Fleadh wouldn’t be going ahead we received many messages from those who attend the event every year saying how sad they were not to be able to come to Ennis for Fleadh Nua 2020, especially since this year’s event had been scheduled for the June Bank Holiday weekend,” said Frank Whelan, Cathaoirleach of Fleadh Nua. To ensure fans of the festival will not miss out on the …

Read More »
Wexford Opera Festival features three little known operas every year.

A night at the opera

The Wexford Opera Festival is a bit of an unusual proposition but it works and has done for years. Take three obscure operas, some of which haven’t seen the light of day since their début performance, and stage them again over the course of a few weeks. Of course, some operas are obscure for a reason and maybe they should be left mouldering but for every duffer there are several gems. This year was promising, with all three operas sung in Italian. It’s a general rule of mine not to go near German language opera. I find it dark and depressing. Surprisingly, opera in English is often woefully bad. There’s the advantage of being able to fully understand what’s going on without resorting to subtitles but there’s just something wrong about English language opera. You’re generally safer sticking with Italian or at a pinch, French. We travelled down in the aftermath of Ophelia and just before storm Brian made itself …

Read More »

Shining a light on Loop Head’s maritime history

WEST Clare’s maritime history and unique landscape will be showcased at Loop Head Lighthouse this May Bank Holiday weekend through its status as one of the Great Lighthouses of Ireland. This weekend a flagship festival will take place at eight of the 12 Great Lighthouses of Ireland, an all-island tourism initiative that also includes lighthouses at Hook Head in Wexford, Valentia Island in Kerry and Donegal’s Fanad Head. Loop Head will offer family-friendly events that include tours, storytelling and a local food and craft showcase. On Bank Holiday Monday, a guided walk will be hosted along the peninsula from 11am, while there will be food-tasting stalls from 12 noon until 2pm. “This three-day weekend festival celebrates the best of Loop Head’s stunning coastline through a series of events and workshops. The public will be able to enjoy the stories of our maritime past, explore the tower to discover its hidden secrets, get tips on being safe and enjoying our coast …

Read More »

Tulla prepares for Cnoc na Gaoithe

The third annual  Féile Cnoc na Gaoithe gets underway in Tulla on the last weekend of this month. Celebrating fiddle music, with fiddle workshops, competitions and recitals, the cast is headed up by the legendary fiddle-player, Maurice Lennon, with Liam O’Connor, Anton MacGabhann, Bernadette Nic Gabhann and local legendary fiddle-player, Vincent Griffin. The festival highlights include a performance by Maurice Lennon. His father, Ben Lennon, is well-known as a master of the Leitrim style of traditional fiddle and his uncle, Charlie Lennon, is renowned as a composer, piano accompanist and fiddler. At 19, Maurice became the youngest person to win the Senior Fiddle Championship at the All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil, held in Ennis in 1977. Shortly after this, he joined with three other All-Ireland champions to form Stockton’s Wing, with local Clare musicians, Kieran Hanrahan, Paul Roche and Tommy Hayes, with whom he composed, recorded and performed for the next 27 years. More recently, he has been composing and travelling the …

Read More »