Arts & Culture

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 …

ENNIS is to make a bid to host Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in 2012.According to Frank Whelan, cathaoirleach of Cois na hAbhna in Ennis, a meeting of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann last week decided they would try and get traditional music’s biggest competitive festival back to the Banner County.“The last time Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann was in Ennis was 1977. Of course, people always remember the 1956 fleadh in Ennis too, which will be famous forever because of Robbie McMahon’s song – The Fleadh down in Ennis,” Mr Whelan said.He added that this year’s Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann is being held in Cavan, where it is most likely to be held again next year. “Usually the fleadh stays in the one place for two years. So our next opportunity to host it would be 2012. The next step in preparing our bid for it is to get the support of local businesses and agencies. We all feel that support will be …

NEW work and some relatively new artists will be on display in Blueberry Art Gallery, Ennis Road, Limerick for the next month.  The exhibition Five by Five will include a selection of paintings by five of Limerick’s leading ladies including Margaret Ray, Nuala Reddan, Orla Clancy, Gerardine O’Leary and Rosaleen Shannon.According to Blueberry Art Gallery proprietor Maurice Clarke, “The idea behind the gallery is to build on the relationships we have with a number of local artists whose work is now featured and to open the gallery to new artists. The specific aim of the gallery is to serve the needs of the Limerick community through the means of visual art and the Five by Five exhibition is just one example of how we are achieving this”.  Rosaleen Shannon, one of the Five by Five ladies who will feature a painting called Looking out to Sea in the exhibition, began painting five years ago. “I absolutely love painting colourful happy …

A RANGE of top-class printwork is currently on display at Glór, Ennis to celebrate with Graphic Studio Dublin their 50th anniversary.Graphic Studio Dublin was established in 1960 to teach traditional printmaking skills, (then unavailable in Irish art colleges) and to provide studios and technical assistance to artists to make fine art prints. They currently have 67 members and this exhibition has a selection of work from some of these artists, including Meadhbh Arthurs, Jean Bardon, Gerard Cox, Louise Farrelly, Paul Fitters, Niamh Flanagan, Nickie Hayden, Stephen Lawlor, Robert Russell and Siobhán Hyde.“Apart from a period in the 18th century when Dublin became known as a centre for the manufacture of mezzotints, there has been little tradition of printmaking in Ireland. In 1960 Patrick Hickey, Leslie MacWeeney, Liam Miller, Elizabeth Rivers and Anne Yeats founded the Graphic Studio Dublin to teach traditional printmaking skills and to provide studios and technical assistance to artists to make fine art prints. It was opened …

THERE’S no show like a Joe show but the nephews of the late great entertainer, Joe Dolan, are touring with a five-piece band they put together with members of their uncle’s backing band.The Dolan Band features Adrian and Ray Dolan, as well as the vocal talents of Karen Karroll performing four decades of Joe hits.“Joe was one of a few singers who had a fantastic vocal range. He had the ability to sing low and high range songs. When we decided to do this show, we felt that only a female would have the vocal ability to be true to Joe’s songs, and the original keys,” comments Adrian. The new single, Angelover which was a hit for Joe in 1997, and written by Adrian, has been re-recorded with Karen taking on the vocals. The Dolans are the only official Joe Dolan tribute band and they will be appearing at the Kilmihil Festival on July 31, at the Strand Hotel, Limerick …

A NIGHT at the opera, organised by Kilkee Civic Trust, will be held in Kilkee Church on Monday, August 2. The concert is a collaboration between University Concert Hall and The European Opera Centre, who have organised a training programme at University of Limerick from Wednesday until Sunday, August 1. Participants will include young singers from Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland and Portugal. These singers, who are amongst the best opera students on the continent, will work intensively under the guidance of the European Opera Centre’s head of singer development, Laurent Pillot. They will also take part in the Kilkee concert. Mr Pillot, under whom the training takes place, founded the Opera Studio of the Bavarian State Opera and was previously musical assistant to Kent Nagano and Placido Domingo at the Los Angeles Opera. He will be joined by the distinguished movement coach, Berlin-based John Norris. Local singers and those involved with training singers will have the chance to observe the …

THE launch of a new CD by box player and singer Mary Staunton will take place in Kinvara this Friday evening at 7.30pm.Alec Finn of De Danann produced the CD and also plays bouzouki.Other guests on the CD include Johnny McDonagh (bodhrán), Mary Shannon (banjo/mandolin), Brendan Gleeson (well-known actor and fiddle player), Jerry Mulvihill (banjo), Dan Collins (fiddle), Tommy Keane (pipes and low whistles), Jackie McCarthy (concertina), Franke Lane (dobro), Paul Johnson (bass), Rick Epping (harmonica) and singers, John Prine and Seán Garvey.