Entertainment
Top-class music and family fun at Clifden Trad Festival
It’s music, song and entertainment all the way in Clifden from now until Sunday as the town’s 6th annual Traditional Music Festival takes place.
It kicks off this Thursday with a CD Launch of Neansai Ni Choisdealbha’s new CD, Draíocht na Feadóige, and a tune-composition competition in the Alcock and Brown Hotel at 8pm.
The official opening and concert takes place in the Clifden Station House Theatre at 7pm this Friday. This free event will feature a host of artists from all over Ireland.
Saturday kicks off with music workshops in fiddle, button accordion and concertina from 10am until 12.30pm in Clifden Community School, followed by a youth session. A sean-nós dancing workshop with All-Ireland Oireachtas Champion John Joyce will take place in Clifden Town Hall at 2.30pm on Sunday.
Music sessions are central to Clifden Trad Fest and this year’s event will include a host of champion musicians from all over Ireland. They include: Laura Beagon (fiddle) from Monaghan, Liz Gaughan (fiddle) and Brendan Quinn (flute) from Tipperary, Róisín Broderick (concertina), Graham Guerin (accordion) and Gearóid Keating (banjo) from Kerry, Michael Curran (Tyrone) and Dáithí Gormley (Sligo) both on accordion, husband-and-wife duo Theresa and Declan Payne from Sligo and Catherine McHugh from Tipperary on piano. Great dancers and singers such as Tipperary’s Deirdre Scanlan will take part in sessions over the weekend.
This Friday night, from 10pm, there will be free sessions in EJ King’s Bar and Lowry’s Bar. On Saturday it’s the turn of the Alcock and Brown Hotel Bar at 2pm, and Mannion’s Bar at 4pm, while on Saturday night from 10pm there will be music in O’Malley’s Bar, the Central Bar and Guy’s Bar. The Farewell Session will be in Foyle’s Hotel at 12.30pm on Sunday.
A highlight of the festival again this year will be the gig rig on the street on Saturday night. Blas featuring Tara Breen (fiddle), Stephen Doherty (accordion), Anne Brennan (singer) of the Brennan Sisters from Maam, Shane McGowan (guitar) and Jimmy Higgins (percussion) make up Blas. They will be joined by a host of dancers and guest artists.
A final CD launch will take place on Sunday in the Station House Theatre at 6pm. Connemara Magic includes over 50 young musicians from all over the area, performing the Connemara Suite, composed by Conor Keane from Clare, This project was commissioned by the Conamara Environmental Education and Cultural Centre, and this event is hosted by Tradfest in conjunction with them.
A few events have been added onto the Trad Fest for this year.
There will be street entertainment on Saturday, with stilt walkers, face painters, jugglers. There are also plans for a traditional street market on the Square.
A busking competition will also take place on Saturday from 1.30pm, and there will be entertainment on the gig rig on Saturday afternoon with Catríona Canavan and Friends.
As always, the public events are free and everyone is invited along for what promises to be a great weekend of music, song and dance. For full information check the website, www.clifdentradfest.com
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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