Entertainment
‘Kick-ass’ jazz festival to scale new heights
Groove Tube with Jimi McDonnell – tribunegroove@live.ie
Featuring an array of local, national and international talent, the Galway Jazz Festival will run from Thursday, October 6, to Sunday, October 8 in venues across Galway City, from the rarefied Mick Lally Theatre to the clubby hub that is Electric.
Artistic director Matthew Berrill takes some time to talk about what is, in some ways, a labour of love for those involved.
“We were quite prepared this year, relatively speaking, in getting the programming done,” he says. “Even without funding guaranteed, before funding answers had come back to us. We said ‘we’re going to do the festival by hook or by crook’.”
Matthew and Ciaran Ryan were integral in securing international artists like Christian Wallumrod. But given that both of them are working musicians in their own right, putting a four-day festival together must be challenging?
“It is a challenge, but it’s a fun one,” Matthew says. “There’s more than Ciaran and me – there’s Aengus Hackett, a great local guitarist, and Maeve Bryan. So there’s good team there. We’re not doing it for the money — there’s no money in it, really. It’s just to present a kick-ass jazz festival in Galway.”
GJF is now in its eleventh year, having been founded by Fidelma Mullane and Damien Evans. Funding has always been a challenge, and last year’s festival was a one-day event, what Matthew called ‘a stop gap’. But, after a successful FundIt campaign and funding from many of the leading lights in Galway’s food and hospitality sector, the festival is set to thrive.
“This year’s is the most comprehensive one yet,” Matthew says.
Christian Wallumrod and his ensemble play the Mick Lally Theatre on Sunday, October 9, and is Matthew is a big fan of the Norwegian pianist.
“He’s got a particular Nordic sound, which is quite well-known in the jazz world,” Matthew says. “It can be subtle, it’s not necessarily in your face. I heard him before, Music For Galway brought him and his ensemble here. Me and my brother Peter heard him, and he was just amazing.
“It’s very representative of creative, European jazz. It’s not one hundred miles an hour, in your face – there’s subtleties involved. They’re doing an acoustic concert in the Druid . The venue influenced that.
For more, read this week’s Connacht 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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