Entertainment
Girl power to the fore in special holiday concert
The women’s singing group, Mná Mná Music will hold a special holiday concert in the city, this Sunday, December 22.
Ruth Dillon, Twin Headed Wolf and Wilde Ida! will feature in the show which kicks off at 9pm, Upstairs in The Townhouse Bar at Quay Lane.
Ruth Dillon originally hails from Co Tipperary but is a long-time resident of Galway. She originally flirted with a few different career options but all roads kept leading her back to music. So she took the plunge and has been playing music professionally since the late 1990s. She was on holidays in San Francisco in 1996 and joined some musicians on stage in The Plough and Stars pub where she was spotted by John Faulkner, who was the musical director for traditional singer Dolores Keane. He asked Ruth to join Dolores’s band.
During the next five years Ruth toured the world with Dolores while writing her own songs and preparing to record her debut album. Dolores always insisted that Ruth do a solo spot during every gig, be it Dublin’s Vicar Street or the Cambridge Folk Festival in front of thousands of people. She also asked Ruth to join her on the Woman’s Heart – 10 Years On tour, sharing the stage with Maura O’Connell, Mary Coughlan, Eleanor McEvoy and Cara Dillon.
Also taking part in Sunday’s Mná Mná gig are Twin-Headed Wolf. They are twin sisters Julie and Branwen from County Clare who just started performing together in 2011. Since then, they have played festivals on the Irish circuit such as Body and Soul, KnockanStockan, No Place Like Dome, Electric Picnic, Spirit of Folk and Secret Garden Festival. Alongside this they have played well-known venues such as the Róisín Dubh in Galway, Dublin’s Academy 2 and the Black Box in Belfast, supporting acts such as Mundy, Ronán Ó Snodaigh, Luka Bloom, Katie Kim and Hudson Taylor. They were also a featured act in the Festival Expo at the Music Show in the RDS and have performed live with Oranmore’s Cian Finn and with Glen Hansard. Drawing their inspiration from the each other’s imaginations, bonfire singsongs, circuses and scrapyards, their twin-edged harmonies juxtaposed with sinister lyrics and a raw sound lend an ethereal flavour to folk music.
The third act, Wilde Ida are an Americana band based in the West of Ireland, playing bluegrass, country and folk tinged with blues. This four-piece perform originals influenced by music from the old world and the new, and offer new twists on classic tunes.
The Mná Mná series is produced and curated by Wilde Ida member, Niceol Blue. An award-winning singer-songwriter, writer and poet, Niceol is also a solo artist as well as being a member of the Prodigal Blues Band, and her own original roots rock and rhythm quintet, the Copper Soul. Niceol has played at festivals in the US and Ireland and can be seen locally in venues such as Monroe’s, the Townhouse, the Róisín Dubh.
The Mná Mná show kicks off at 9pm, this Sunday and admission is €5 at the door.
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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