Entertainment
Ballinasloe celebrates a much-loved musical son
A host of traditional musicians will gather in Ballinasloe from Friday next September 11, to Sunday September 13, for the second Larry Reynolds Irish Music Weekend. The celebration in honour of one of the area’s most famous and most popular sons follows the success of the inaugural festival in his memory last year.
Fiddle player Larry Reynolds hailed from the townland of Shanboley, Ahascragh, near Ballinasloe. He emigrated to Boston in 1953 where he became a highly influential figure, both musically and socially. His East Galway style of playing won him many fans, and he made an enormous contribution to Irish music all over North America.
In 1975 Larry was a founding member of the now renamed Reynolds-Hanafin-Cooley Boston Branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. He was also a member of the Tara Céilí Band and Connacht Céilí Band. He featured on many well-known albums, was listed in the Top 100 Irish-Americans and was an Irish music broadcaster on a Boston radio station. Larry also played for two Irish Presidents, Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese, as well as for some of America’s political elite, including Tip O’Neill and William Bulger.
Locally, Larry played every Monday night at the Green Briar séisiún, plying his craft and mentoring many other musicians.
Larry and his wife Phyllis lived in Waltham, where they operated an open-door policy for many young Irish and American musicians. Throughout his life Larry paved the way for generations of these people.
The work he did for young Irish emigrants is legendary, and many young people were sent to this man who unselfishly helped them get their ‘first start’.
Ballinasloe’s weekend in his honour will kick off with the Larry Reynolds Memorial Concert on Friday, September 11, at 8pm in the Town Hall. It will showcase some of the finest exponents of Irish music including Citizen Keane – Seán, Matt, Noel and Pat of the Keane family from Caherlistrane. The Matt Cunningham Band and members of Larry’s extended family will also take part. This concert in Ballinasloe Town Hall, with its superb acoustics, promises to be a fine start to the weekend. Tickets are €18 and booking is recommended.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
Folk duo Niall Teague and Pádraic Joyce are launching their new album What Will We Be, a blend of folk, Americana and acoustic music, this Friday, May 19, at 8pm in An Taibhdhearc.
The success of their well-received 2020 release Taobh le Taobh, as well as recent successes at the Pan Celtic and Oireachtas Song Contests, spurred the duo on to record this new album which represents many years of collaboration and musical development.
It features Niall and Pádraic on vocals, harmonies, and acoustic guitars, Maidhc Ó hÉanaigh on double bass and Neil Fitzgibbon on fiddle. The catchy title track, What Will We Be, features contributions from percussionist Jim Higgins (The Stunning, Christy Moore, Paul Brady) and haunting, driving melodies on vocals, guitar, and fiddle.
Themes of love and hope are woven through Come Away with Me which features interplay between piano and fiddle as well as rich vocal harmonies.
People, places, and broken dreams are celebrated and lamented on Martin and Tom, Guitar Gold, Memories of You and Achill Island. The influence of David Henry Thoreau’s novel Walden features on the tracks Simple and Wise and Walden, with the beauty of nature, escape and simple pleasures at their core.
The album moves from minimalistic folk ballads such as Galway Ghost to swirling, string-laden arrangements on the song Neptune, both of which are influenced by maritime tales from Galway. Much of the work on this album was supported by the Arts Council, including work with musical arranger Eoin Corcoran and the string ensemble Treo.
The album will be launched this Friday, May 19, at 8pm in an Taibhdhearc. Tickets €22, plus booking fee at Eventbrite.ie.
Dunmore is the place to be this weekend for lovers of traditional music, as the Galway County Fleadh will take place there from this Friday, May 19, to Sunday, May 23.
It is 10 years since Dunmore last hosted a fleadh and the local Comhaltas branch, which has re-formed since Covid, is looking forward to facilitating this gathering of music, song, dance and craic.
The official Opening Concert will take place in Dunmore Town Hall this Friday at 8pm with the acclaimed Mulcahy family from Limerick. Mick, Louise and Michelle are well known throughout the country, thanks to their live performances, television appearances and numerous CDs. They were the winners of the TG4 Gradam Ceoil Grúpa Ceoil Award for 2023. Tickets for their concert can be purchased on the door and a great night of music is promised.
Two days of competitions will kick off this Saturday at the town’s Community School, with more than 1,500 competitors taking part. Participants will be hoping to qualify for the Connacht Fleadh 2023, which will be held in Ballina, County Mayo, from June 23 to July 2.
Competitions for those aged Under 10, Under 12 and Under 15 will be held in a large variety of instruments on Saturday, as well as in singing and Comhrá Gaeilge. Sunday’s competitions will be for the Under 18 and Over 18 ages groups, as well as in dancing.
On both days a large entry is expected for Grúpaí Cheoil and Céilí Band competitions across all age groups.
Seventeen Comhaltas branches from across Galway will have participants in this weekend’s competitions, which will result in a large number of visitors to the Dunmore area.
Members of the public are welcome to attend the competitions, which offer a great opportunity to hear and see the talent on display. There will be sessions in local pubs over the weekend as well and everybody is welcome to attend these.
For more information on the County Fleadh, go to www.galwaycomhaltas.ie.
Music for Galway’s concert with renowned Swiss pianist Cédric Pescia which had been due to take place on April 27 but which had to be deferred, will now take place next Tuesday, May 23, at 8pm, in the Emily Anderson Concert Hall at the University of Galway.
This concert of German classics with Bach at its core, will brings the Bach element of Music for Galway’s 41st season to an end.
This world-class pianist who won the famous Gina Bachauer International Artists Piano Competition, has a repertoire that spans many eras from baroque to contemporary and he is widely known for his elaborate programmes. Cédric Pescia describes music as ‘language and movement at the same time’.
Audiences will have a chance to experience his soft, clear touch as he performs a programme for solo piano that will include classics such as Schumann’s popular Waldszenen (Forest Scenes), a suite of nine short pieces, and the penultimate of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, No. 31. These pieces will be interspersed with French Suites by Bach.
■ Ticket for Cédric Pescia’s concert are available at www.musicforgalway.ie, or by phone 091 705962 and on the door on the night. They cost €20/€18. The price for fulltime students of all ages is €6 while MfG Friends can avail of the friends’ rate of €16.
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