Popular folk club returns after 25-year absence

Riabhóg Folk Club will reconvene this Saturday, February 1, after a 25-year absence, to host the well-known singer and song-writer Brian O’Rourke. The concert will take place in the Crane Bar on the city’s Sea Road and will start at 6pm.

Riabhóg began in 1983 and was originally located upstairs in Richardson’s Bar, Eyre Square. It ran there until 1995, hosting many now-famous names along the way. Those who sang at the club included Seán Tyrrell, Seán Keane, Jimmy Crowley, Dolores Keane and John Faulkner, Iarla Ó Lionáird, Deirbhile Ní Bhrolcháin, Seán Ryan and Len Graham.

For years, the Holy Thursday gig with the Voice Squad was a feature, with the session continuing elsewhere well into Good Friday.

Many of the performers from those early years are now gone to their eternal reward. An Riabhóg’s first guest was Dubliner Liam Weldon who died in 1995. Also gone are Mick Flynn, Frank Harte, Seamus Creagh, Al O’Donnell and Galway singers Tony Small, Pat Conneely and Tom Savage. In the last year, brothers Tim and John Lyons have died.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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