Coole celebrations for Yeats’ 149th

To celebrate the 149^th anniversary of WB Yeats’ birth, the Lady Gregory Yeats Trail group and Coole Music are holding an evening of poetry, song, anecdote, harp and traditional music in Loughrea.

Words and music from the West: poetry by WB Yeats and music by Turlough O’Carolan will be performed by Tale of the Gael.

At the event, which will take place in Loughrea Library this Saturday, art work of Jack B, Lilly, and Lolly Yeats will be on display and a short talk will be given on the Loughrea-Yeats connection.

The programme combines the works of 18th century Irish composer of harp music Turlough O’ Carolan and poet WB Yeats in a way that reveals similarities in the lives of both.

The musical group Tale of the Gael, has an international reputation for setting some of Ireland’s most beautiful music into historic context, and has represented Ireland abroad on several occasions, most recently at European Culture Week Strasbourg in 2013, where they also entertained an international audience at the opening of Ireland’s Presidency of the EU in January of the same year.

With the traditional music side firmly represented by Limerick man Mickey Dunne, who is descended from one of the last of Ireland’s travelling pipers, and an equally strong classical presence in the award winning flute playing of Robert Tobin, the harp, bass and bouzouki music of Catherine Rhatigan and Dave Aebli sits comfortably in between. Deirdre Starr, formerly of Celtic Woman, adds her voice to the line up.

Words and Music from the West: Music and Poetry from Turlough O’ Carolan and WB Yeats, was first performed by Tale of the Gael at the Sligo International Summer School in 2013 and again for the Literary Society of Geneva, Switzerland.

The event takes place at Loughrea Library on Saturday at 8pm. Tickets on sale in Gort at Open Sesame Health food shop and in Loughrea at Beatty Jewellers.