Trad Festival – good for business but all about the music

THE Ennis Trad Festival is set to bring a welcome €1 million boost to the region when it kicks off this November. Tens of thousands of music lovers are set to descend on Ennis next month for the festival.
According to John Rynne, Ennis Trad Festival director, “I’ve been talking to publicans and hoteliers here about figures and the festival is definitely worth a million plus to the region every year. This would be between accommodation, drink sales, food, taxis, everything factored in. We have an enormous number of people flying in from abroad and a lot of these people would be coming for a week to the region. And what they might spend at the festival isn’t the entirety of what they would spend in the region as a result of the festival.”
He added, “From a commercial point of view, the pub trade and hotels have all been hit with the recession and with winter coming in and November, with its non-drinking tradition, it would make for a very bleak month for the town unless we had a festival here. And in the light of the fact that we didn’t get the All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil, I think the town needs to put a focus on the already successful event that it has here and work towards developing it and I would urge all people in the town to get behind the festival.”
Ennis Trad has attracted worldwide attention, with visitors from as far away as Australia, America and Asia set to come to Ennis – with some already here.
“This year, I can literally say that every day since the start of the year, I have received communications from people overseas about the festival. There is an enormous  upsurge of international interest in the festival. We are watched and learnt from by much bigger festivals in the States and Europe, who look to us as the flagship of innovation.
“I’ve already met some people who come on an annual basis from both the States and Australia. Many of these are retired people and they come for about a month each, staying in hotels in the region for a month and there is a big spend associated with the festival.”
However, while the festival will bring money to the region, that is not the most important aspect according to John.
“It’s not a festival that’s about bringing money to the town, it’s about having a festival of music first and foremost. I think we have a more solid foundation for festivals than a lot of others around the country.”
This will be the 18th Ennis Trad Festival, celebrating traditional music, song and dance. The festival will feature a varied selection of concerts, a céilí, CD launches, The Great Céilí Band Challenge, masterclasses in flute technique and fiddle as well as sean-nós and set-dancing, over 100 informal music sessions and the ever-popular trad disco.
As ever, the festival has attracted some of the biggest names in traditional music with headline acts including Dervish, NicGaviskey, Peter Browne, Michelle O’Brien and Arty McGlynn, The Raw Bar Collective, Joe Burke and Eileen O’Brien, also with Arty McGlynn.
When asked what he believes brings so many top names to Ennis for the festival John said, “This is an exceptional, intense festival of music and it’s unlike any other. Because it’s a winter-time festival, it has twice the music of a summer festival and perhaps a little less of the milling throng. It has a more refined audience of people who are genuinely interested in the music. Anyone who comes to this festival is interested in the festival and the music. This is a festival organised by musicians primarily so we have the inside track on the culture.
“We put on good mainstream concerts, all the concert acts are all big names. We have a lot of good will with the musicians because we are musicians ourselves and that’s why we can get the best. These bands are often unavailable during the summer as they are touring internationally. But we get the cream of the talent of the nation in the winter time, which is kind of a down time and this is kind of a pre-Christmas last bash for everybody.”
However, Ennis Trad isn’t just about the big names, he said. “The musicians that we have playing informally in the many sessions, in over 20 venues, are every bit as good. They are also the cream. Most of them are recording artists and touring, so standard-wise, there is nothing like Ennis Trad.”
An event that John is particularly looking forward to will be Árd Ghaisce na mBuíonta – The Great Céilí Band Challenge. Now in its fifth year, the competition continues to grow in popularity. And in a novel twist, the competition features audience voting alongside the adjudication of experts who judge the bands from behind screens, not knowing their identity till the end.
“There are very few outlets for céilí bands in competition to showcase their skills and their discipline as bands. We have 13 of them this year coming from all over the country. Because of the audience voting, it’s a bit like the X-factor for traditional music. The long history of competitions in relation to bands has always been one of controversy, with people not agreeing with the adjudicator. But in this situation, the audience gets to have its say officially. They take it very seriously, you’ll see the pencils and ballot papers in the audience and they’re making notes about everything they noticed. They really analyse the bands and finally get to have their say,” he said.
In a new departure for the festival, they have decided not to put up posters, instead relying on modern technology to get the word out.
“Traditional music can remain traditional but in the light of all the modern technology, Facebook and the connections with iPhones and all the rest of it, I don’t feel a poster is much of an advert any more. Getting the word out there and getting the excitement stirred up is achieved much more readily in this day and age with all the new media we have,” he said.
Ennis Trad Festival will take place from November 10 to 14 in venues throughout the town. For details check www.ennistradfestival.com or facebook/Ennis Trad Festival.