Arts & Culture

TWO Clare Karaoke singers will be representing the Banner County at the Irish Karaoke Championships in Portlaoise this weekend.

Movie critic John Keogh takes a look at The Rebound and Toy Story 3.

Marguerite McGrath takes a look at this week’s television.

Peter Madden reviews From Paris with Love and Clash of the Titans.

RUAN accordion player Sharon Shannon is constantly pushing out the boundaries when it comes to performing. For almost three decades, Sharon has built up world renown and really made the accordion a cool instrument, with thousands of teenagers and children choosing it as their main instrument due to her influence. She has collaborated with more musicians, through all musical genres, than one interview could fit in, but most notably with Bono, Sinéad O’Connor, The Chieftains, The Waterboys, Nigel Kennedy and Shane MacGowan. She is held in such high esteem that she was invited to entertain former US President Bill Clinton, as well as the The Sultan of Brunei in Australia. Over the years, she has had multi-platinum album sales and has had several number-one albums, singles and DVDs. Sharon is also an accomplished composer and has written an album of traditional tunes for full concert orchestra arrangement. Her album The Galway Girl went four times platinum in Ireland and the …

THE annual Feakle Traditional Music Festival will celebrate its 23rd year at the start of August with a vibrant programme of traditional music, song and dance. Every year, the festival attracts genuine music lovers from all corners of the globe, while providing a platform for local musicians to demonstrate their musical heritage. The festival will open on Wednesday, August 4 at 7.30pm in the community centre, Feakle, with a screening of the film on Robbie McMahon Last Night as I Lay Dreaming. In recent years, the festival’s opening ceremony has evolved to become a platform to honour and pay tribute to musicians, singers and dancers that have contributed to the culture of Clare.  This year, the programme of events commences with a celebration of renowned musician Robbie McMahon. “Robbie has been a regular performer at the festival and can be relied on to keep order for the Sunday morning singing session. The festival are honoured to screen the documentary that …

FOR years, Eddie Lenihan has been keeping old folklore stories alive and his latest CD, Six Terrible Women, recounts the tales of six women, whose names go down in history for putting the fear of God in people.It is a rerelease of a tape he compiled about 12 years ago.“Essentially, the CD is six stories about terrible women – four from Clare, one from West Limerick and one from Waterford. There are two Biddy Earley stories and one story from East Clare about a woman called Aoibhinn or Aoibheall, who was the Dalcassian banshee, one of the 25 Clare banshees. The fourth Clare story is about The Lady in White, based at O’Brien’s Castle in Crusheen,” Eddie explained.The West Limerick story is about Spiorad na mBarna or Moll O’Shaughnessy, while the Waterford story tells of Mary Hannigan or Petticoat Loose. Biddy Earley was one of Clare’s best known ‘wise women’, born in Faha, close to Feakle. It is claimed that …

A PORTRAIT of Brian Friel, playwright and author, by Ennis artist Mick O’Dea was unveiled in the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin last Friday.Deputy Mary Hanafin, Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport, unveiled the portrait, with the playwright himself and the artist present. The portrait was commissioned in 2009 by the gallery’s board of governors and guardians on the occasion of the playwright’s 80th birthday as part of the contemporary portrait series.Born in Ennis, Mick O’Dea is a portrait painter now based in Dublin. He studied at the National College of Art and Design, the University of Massachusetts, and more recently at the Winchester School of Art in Barcelona and Winchester, by which he was awarded an MA in European Fine Art in 1997. He has taught and lectured throughout Ireland and in the United States and has won numerous awards, including the Keating McLoughlin Medal at the RHA in 1993, the Taylor de Vere Award for a work …