Arts & Culture

The Arts Office of Clare County Council is seeking applications for the 2017 annual Arts Grants, which is aimed at developing and promoting the arts in the county. Grants will be awarded in three areas – support to individual artists, organisational support, and support for projects and events. “Allocated annually, this is a hugely popular scheme with almost 100 applications received in 2016,” said Siobhán Mulcahy, Clare county arts officer. She added, “Under the 2003 Arts Act, the arts are defined as painting, sculpture, architecture, music, film, drama, dance, literature, design in industry and the fine arts and applied arts generally. The awards can be used for the professional development of artists, the arts and/or increasing access and participation in the arts.”

A MAN with strong West Clare links has spoken of his enduring admiration and close working relationship with the late George Michael. Toby Bourke, who lived in Labasheeda with his wife Alicia and still owns a holiday cottage there, has told The Clare Champion of his admiration for the pop superstar, who died on Christmas Day. Toby sang with the world-renowned artist on the 1997 single Waltz Away Dreaming, which was the first release by the Aegean record label established by George Michael after he left Sony. “We first met in 1994, when he was mooting the idea of setting up his own record label. That finally happened in 1996,” Toby explained. “From about 1996 onwards, I was his direct employee as an artist on his record label. We had that in common but ironically my father-in-law then, from my first marriage, had prostate cancer and was in the room next to Lesley, George’s mum, at Charing Cross Hospital in …

Light of Christmas THERE in a manger in a stable dark and forlorn, The baby Jesus was born With Mary and Joseph by his side In their sweet love he did abide The stable was dark and cold But in it was a treasure more precious than gold The baby son of God most high Who came to save both you and I The poor shepherds came to kneel before the baby king And his praises they did sing Then the magi from the east Came their eyes on the baby king to feast We too on this new Christmas day Should take a little time to pray And give heartfelt thanks to God in heaven above For his most precious gift of love And on bended knee with heads bowed low Ask him on you his blessing to bestow And be filled with peace and joy As you recall the birth of Gods little boy. Dermot Maguire, Shannon.

SHANNON singer/songwriter David Hope has a new seasonal release, Christmas Day, which will be heard all around Europe in the coming days. The song takes up the common theme of struggling to get home to loved ones for Christmas, with a rather robust pop-oriented sound. It comes with a funny and entertaining video, which was shot in Lahinch. Christmas Day was chosen as the RTÉ Radio One song, selected for the European Broadcasting Union Christmas Music Project and will feature on a playlist across all member states. The single will also feature on RTÉ Radio One’s Christmas Playlist 2016 and a number of stations in Germany and Austria. David says, “I suppose I didn’t intentionally sit down and write a Christmas song; it just kind of happened that way. The song kind of led me to write it and I kind of went with it. It kind of took on a life of its own really. It took a turn …

TWO school chaplains from Clare will this week launch their thought-provoking book, which sees many of Ireland’s finest thinkers share where they have found, and continue to find, God in their lives. The book, which is the brainchild of Cora Guinnane from Clarecastle and Joanne O’Brien from Quin, features contributions from former president Mary McAleese, Brent Pope, Finbar Furey, as well as Bishop Willie Walsh and Fr Harry Bohan. Where I find God will be launched in Ennis on Friday and all royalties from the book will go to the Peter McVerry Trust and Focus Ireland. Joanne is a secondary-school chaplain at St John Bosco Community College in Kildysart and Cora, who is on a career break currently, is a secondary-school chaplain at St Caimin’s in Shannon. Joanne said as they share an interest in spirituality, they liked the idea of exploring where people find God. She said they felt that people in general are moving away from the traditional …

SOCKS in the Frying Pan must be the most distinctive band name in Irish music today but the group are keeping its origin quiet. When asked, guitar player and vocalist Aodán Coyne was giving nothing away. “If I told you that, I’d get in a lot of trouble. The lads would kill me,” he said. The lads in question are the Hayes brothers, Shane (button accordion) and Fiachra (fiddle, banjo and bodhrán), who make up the trio with Aodán. All three are from Ennis and they will launch their next album, Without A Paddle, when they play at Glór on October 20. The three first began playing together in a popular Ennis venue. “We started about eight years ago in Cruise’s Bar, doing a session. We were there for about five or six years playing sessions and getting a bit tighter. We got that first CD out. We got a manager and an agent and we went over to the …

Crusheen photographer and traditional musician Christy McNamara’s latest work will be the subject of an exhibition and a series of concerts in Toronto, Canada, from November 3 – 13. Christy has been capturing images of Ireland for over 20 years and his work has been widely exhibited and can be found in many collections, both public and private. The images featured in his latest exhibition are drawn from a larger body of work over the last three decades. ‘Where My Heart Lies’ celebrates and honours the rich legacy of music and music making in County Clare, in those who carried it and passed it on. The ‘Where My Heart Lies’ exhibition, which was hosted at glór in Ennis during Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, will be complemented by a number of concerts with Christy and Toronto musicians on the week of November 7-12 in Toronto’s Mirvish Village.

LOUGH Derg and its Islands: A Voyage of Discovery by Road and by Water, is the latest publication by East Clare historian Gerard Madden and Tipperary man Shane Creamer. The book will be launched this Saturday at 8.30pm in the Mountshannon Hotel by Éanna Rowe of Waterways Ireland and contains the only map of Lough Derg showing all the access points to the lake by road. According to Gerard, to map out the whole lake to travel around it by road, you would need to buy three separate Ordinance Survey maps. “This is the first time where you have one map of Lough Derg showing all the access routes to the lake,” he said. It is also a great angling resource, as it names all of the known spots around the lake. The authors have also seen to it to name 376 of the islands on Lough Derg. To date, the Ordinance Survey Discovery Series only provides names for 113 …