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No
PR handouts, no puffs, just the News
Irish Music
Newsletter
Irish music news is now carried on the Ramblinghouse Frontpage New: Irish Dancing News at Ramblinghouse
Tuesday June 9, 2009
Paddy
Slattery of the famous music pub on Dublin's Capel Street passsed away
on June 4. Slatterys Pub was one of the premier venues for ballads and
traditional music in the 1960s. Among those to perform there were Paddy
Keenan, The Pavees, Tony MacMahon, Joe Heaney, Noel Hill and Planxty.
Christy Moore has a short piece on his website. Sunday June 7
Hibernian
Rhapsody has morphed into the "reformed" De Dannan. Hibernian Rhapsody
was made up of : Frankie Gavin, Michelle Lally, Damien Mullane, Mike
Galvin, Eric Cunningham and Carl Hession. All bar Carl Hession make up
the new De Dannan. The group will launch at the World Fleadh in
Castlebar on August 5. Friday June 5 Clannad singer Moya Brennan is to host a major new series on Irish music for American PBS TV. Sunday Tribune
Singer songwriter Jimmy MacCarthy ('Ride On', 'Missing You') is back on stage after a five year gap. Sunday Independent.
Friday May 29 Dublin
singer Damien Dempsey, who sings in the Sidney Opera House next
week, makes a strong connection with Down Under and
the migrant life. Sidney Morning Herald
The Kilfenora Ceili Band, Lunasa and Cora Smith and her Band all take to the stage at this year's Glastonbury Festival. Glastonbury Lineup Monday May 25
Set dance teacher and owner of the famous pub in Knocknagree, Co Cork, Dan O'Connell, has died. Irish Examiner Thursday May 21
De Dannan are set to reunite for a once-off performance at the World Fleadh in Castlebar in August. Breaking News Whelans, one of Dublin's top music venues, is to open in London - and maybe later in New York. Irish Post Tuesday May 19, 2009
The legendary toothless gap is no more. Shane McGowan
has been photographed in Spain sporting shining white new dentures.
Cruel jokes abound. Still, if he stands up to the slagging, he may
yet enter Eurovision, singing 'The Broad Mathethic Thannon.' Daily Mail. Also: The Sessions 'discussion' Sunday May 17
You can now vote in the Irish Traditional and Folk Music Awards, part of the World Fleadh in Castlebar in August. Vote Here Thursday May 14 Taka Hayasi had never danced, but after seeing Riverdance in his native
Tokyo he quit his IT job at 28 and in time ended up in the
Riverdance troupe. Irish Times. Wednesday May 13 Some 10,000 dancers are summoned to Ennis this Sunday (May 17) from 2 –
4 pm to dance the Siege of Ennis and set a new world record. The event
coincides with the opening of Fleadh Nua and is in aid of the Special
Olympics Fund. Music by the Kilfenora Ceili Band. Website ( Result: rain washed out play and only 6,000 turned up) Former Stockton's Wing banjo player and presenter of Radio Eireann's Ceili House, Kieran Hanrahan has been appointed programmer of Dublin's Temple Bar Music Festival, held every January. Monday May 11 The Dubliners will mark the memory of Ciaran Bourke, Luke Kelly and Ronnie Drew at a special concert titled ‘A Time to Remember’ in Vicar Street, Dublin, on July 4. Read More
Saturday May 9 Christy Moore is top of the Irish album charts for the second week with Listen.
In second place is Bob Dylan. The last time a traditional or folk album
topped the Irish bestsellers’ list was Sharon Shannon’s Galway Girl compilation CD last summer. Friday May 8 Singer Martha Wainright is one of
the first acts booked into the Sligo Live Festival which takes place this
year from October 22 - 26. Sligo
Live Johnny McEvoy's new album Never Smelt the
Roses is out and available at his Website. Wednesday May 6 Mairtin O Connor, joined by
Cathal Hayden, adds in old timey, gypsy and classical alongside
traditional tunes on his new album Crossroads. Irish
Times interview. The Foxrock Folk Club - a
contradiction in terms, joked Luke Kelly when he performed there in 1972 -
celebrates its 40th anniversary with a special concert in the
Pavilion, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin, next month. Hot Press Friday May 1 Australian-based Scottish singer/songwriter
Eric Bogle will be touring Ireland in mid-July, taking in
Dublin, Donegal, Tullamore, Belfast and the Fiddlers Green fest in
Rostrevor. Details at Bogle's
website. Feile Joe Einniu, celebrating the great
sean nos singer Joe Heaney who died 25 years ago, takes place in his
native Carna, Co Galway, this weekend. michealocuaig@hotmail.com Sunday April 26 Con Curtin, the colourful fiddle player from
Brosna in Co Kerry and formerly of London, has died. Funeral in Brosna on
Tuesday. Saturday April 25 The Chieftains, the Dubliners, the Wolf
Tones, Sharon Shannon and the Kilfenora Ceili Band are among
the names mentioned for a proposed concert in the national stadium in
Berne on July 25 to raise funds for a foundation in memory
of Manuela Reido, the young Swiss student murdered in Galway last summer.
Irish
Times Friday April 24 Sharon Shannon, Mairtin O'Connor
and
Kila will be among those performing for free during the
Galway Volvo Ocean Race Stopover, from May 23 - June 6. Also: Trad on the
Prom and La Gaeilge. Festival
Site Thursday April 23 The Galway music scene will have a
colourful addition this summer when popular Belfast flute
player the Rev Gary Hasting takes
up the rectorship of St Nicholas historic church in the city centre. Story and
Profile Interesting interview with Toner Quinn,
editor of The Journal of Music in the Irish
Times today. Christy Moore writes about Tina
Turner, the meaning of life, everything . . . in his latest Epistle Singer
Damien Dempsey will headline the new Rock 'D' Lough
Festival in Slane on Saturday August 29. More at Hot
Press
Thursday April 9 The Kilfenora Ceili Band is one of the first acts
to commit to a charity concert in Basle in July in aid of the Manuela
Reido Foundation, set up in memory of the 17-year-old Swiss student who
was sexually assaulted and murdered in Galway in 2007. Irish Times
report Friday April 4 After
31 distinguished years, the Francis McPeake School of
Music in Belfast is facing financial difficulties and in danger
of closing unless it can raise funding. http://www.francismcpeake.com/ Mick
Fitzgerald
has been at the heart of the Dublin ballad scene since
the year dot. He has a new album out - Damage
Limitation. www.mickfitzgerald.com It's not all about
the Galway Girl. The song's writer Steve Earle
along with Ramblin' Jack Elliott will be
performing at the Johnny Keenan Banjo Festival from September 24 - 27
in Longford.
Wednesday April 1 The Kilfenora Ceili Band celebrate their first 100
years with a series of entertaining events in Co Clare from April 23 - 26.
More
Here Dervish play a charity concert for the
Special Olympics Association at Mahons Hotel, Irvingstown, Enniskillen, Co
Fermanagh, on April 17. Dervish
website
Monday March 30 Connemara sean-nos dancer Seosamh O Neachtain has
been appointed the first ever sean-nos Dancer in Residence at Galway
University. He will be giving a series of workshops at the college
starting Tuesday April 7 at 7pm. http://www.nuigalway.ie/
jjjjj Friday March 27 Girsa, a well-connected teenage, all-female group
out of New York have just released their debut CD. IrishCentral Thursday March 26 Damien Dempsey tops
the Hot Press Readers' Poll in the Folk/Trad category, followed by 2
-Kila; 3 - Colm Mac an Iomaire; 4 -
Martin Hayes; 5 - Sharon
Shannon. Pete Seeger will be 90
on May 3 next. Linked to the campaign for the Nobel Prize to be given to
the folk legend is a move to have that date designated "For Pete's
Sake - Sing!" with concerts coordinated around the world.
More at Mudcat
Tuesday March 24 Two giants of folk,
Andy Irvine and Dick Gaughan, will perform together at the
Arts Guild Theatre, Greenock, Scotland, on June 23
next. Crosshaven Folk Club in Co Cork have a new website. It includes a list of
upcoming events.
Club Site Mick Moloney, Athena Tergis and
step dancer Niall O'Leary will perform in Hanoi, Vietnam,
on Saturday next to raise funds for Agent Orange/Dioxin
victims.
Details
Monday March 23 Interesting to hear Galway
Girl ring out before 80,000 fans after Ireland won the Rugby
Grand Slam (think European Superbowl) in Cardiff on Saturday. Irish fans
were heard singing the song in the streets before the match. But . . .
can't see it overtaking The Fields of Athenry as a sports
anthem.
Christy Moore did his bit for the cause when he
entertained the Irish squad to a private session last week as part of
coach Declan Kidney's preparations. Christy's new album Listen is due out on April 17.
Thursday March 19 Sharon
Shannon paid an emotional tribute to her late partner Leo Healy
when she was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Meteor
Music Achievement Awards ceremony in Dublin.
More
Here Wednesday March 18 Lots written about Irish music
around St Patrick's Day: most interesting is the Chinese band
Dublingers who were inspired by the
music and dance scene in Titanic
- See
Reuters. Also: very informative feature on fiddler Brian
Conway in the New
York Times. Tuesday March 17 You didn't read it here . . .
but you can now get Clancy Brothers ringtones. Click
Here And The Dubliners, Chieftains, Bothy Band, Planxty, Christy
Moore and etc. Seamus Creagh
obit at Musical
Traditions
. Monday March 16 The Cork-based fiddler
Seamus Creagh
died yeaterday. He hailed originally from Co
Westmeath. Friday March13 De
Danann is
to get a new lease of life. Expect an announcement from Frankie Gavin
before the end of the month. The Kilfenora Ceili Band reckons it
is 100 years old this year and will give a centenary concert in the
National Concert Hall in Dublin on Monday next, starting 8 pm.
More at
NCH Wednesday March 11 Maggie McCarthy
(23), from Dripsey, Co Cork, will showcase her finely honed
ability to dance while playing the fiddle for US president Barack Obama
on St Patrick's Day as part of the traditional Irish
celebration at the White House. More Here Moya
Brennan embarks on a British tour starting this Friday and
continuing until March 29. Tour schedule The Journal of
Music, now minus "in Ireland" in the title, has a rich and
splendid new website Monday March 9 Tommy Peoples will take part in a fundraising
concert in Ennis on March 13 in aid of the Flowing Tide Music School
in Doonbeg, West Clare, which has become a casualty of the
recession and now faces threat of closure. Full
story:Clare
People The Clancy Brothers Music Festival is to be
inaugurated in their home town of Carrick-on-Suir. It will run from June
12 - 15. Festival
Website
Thursday March 5 There was anger among the
families of Ronnie Drew and Robert McCartney after the pub
in Belfast where McCartney was murdered by IRA members was
renamed after the popular Dublin singer. More
Here With a new CD out, Seamus Begley and
Jim Murray are off to Australia where they play at the
Port Fairy Folk Festival this weekend. More
Here Wednesday March 4 Let the record show . . . .
Doc Watson turned 86 this week
(March 2). Kinvara Area
Musicians is a very useful web guide with links to musicians in
the south Galway, north
Clare area.
Tuesday March 3 Contenders for the Longest Ever Band Name
Award, the Liverpool Irish Patriots Republican Flute Band
has just launced its first CD titled Rebels from the Mersey. More at Irish World.
Details of this year's Willie Clancy Summer
School (July 4 - 12) at Set Dancing News
website.
Monday March 2 Colourful Sligo flute player
Seamus Tansey is back in the wars after suggesting serious evolutionaly
shortcomings among the populace of Co Mayo village
Bonniconlon. See Western
People report. Saturday February 28 Jim Page's
song Hiroshima Nagasaki Russian Roulette was a big Moving Hearts
number. He's returning to Ireland and will be in De Barras,
Clonakilty, March 1, The Crane, Galway (4), Boyles Bar, Slane, Co Meath
(5), Community Hall, Avoca, Co Wicklow, (6) and the Seamus Ennis Centre,
Fingal, (7).
Unoccupied Minds is a performance night on
March 16 in Dublin's Vicar Street in support of Aid for Palestine. Taking
part will be Stephen Rea, Sinead Cusack, Roisin Elsafty, Christy
Moore and others. http://www.irishantiwar.org
Christy
Moore returns to England in May with gigs in London, Manchester,
Gateshead and Birmingham. In October he plays Glasgow,
Edinburgh, Perth and Barrowland. He has a new single out The
Ballad of Ruby Walsh (you have to be into horseracing, Kildare
etc.)
Thursday February 26 Boherbue swept to
national success once again in the All Ireland Scor na
nOg Finals hosted in the Count John McCormack Centre in Athlone
last Saturday. Scor
Report Wednesday February 25 A new three-part TV
documentary on some of the extraordinary people who collected Irish music,
from 18th - 20th century, starts on TG4 on Wednesday 4th March at
9.30pm. Sean Corcoran presents. More at The
Sessions Tuesday February 24 Actor cum banjo player
Steve Martin has been joined on his album, The
Crow: New Songs For The 5-String Banjo, by piper Liam O
Floinn and singer Mary Black. More
Here Wednesday February 18 Michael Foster of the duo
Foster and Allen was in court in Mullingar yesterday
appealing a tax fine of 12,000 euro. He told the court that he had
received a forged letter on Revenue notepaper saying his tax affairs were
in order. Court
Report Tuesday February 17 Comhaltas
boss Labhras O Murchu (Fianna Fail) has accused Opposition Fine Gael
of conducting “a vendetta” against it in claiming its State funding lacked
transparency. CCE receives at least 7 million euro from the State. More
Here and Update
Here Saturday February 14 After hitting the headlines
last year by banning Danny Boy in his pub on St
Patrick's Day because he found it too depressing, publican Shaun Clancy,
owner of Foley's Pub in New York, is taking a new approach this year. He
is holding a competition for revised lyrics or an up tempo version of
the song. Details
Here The
Linenhall in Castlebar, Co Mayo, features a double bill of folk and
traditional music with John Hoban and Sharon
Murphy on February 26 at 8pm. Booking 094
9023733.
Saturday February 7 "A great light gone out," was
how Lillis O Laoire described the Connemara sean-nos
singer Ciaran O Con Cheanainn who has died suddenly
at the age of 27. Only last year, Ciaran became the youngest
ever winner of Corn Ui Riada. More
Here Friday February 6 Christy Moore's new album, Listen, is due out on April 17. It
will include a song from Declan Sinnott. This is only the start of it!
Hot Springs Arkansas have chosen There’s no one as Irish As Barack
Obama as the theme song for their St Patricks Day parade this
year. Thursday February 5 The TG4 Gradam Ceoil 2009 winners have been announced.
They are- Traditional Musician of the Year: Charlie
Harris Young Traditional Musician of the Year: Conor
McEvoy Composer of the Year: Con Fada O Drisceoil
Lifetime Achievement Award: Roger Sherlock
Traditional Singer of the Year: Sarah Anne O'Neill
Musicians’ Award: Reg
Hall
Altan's Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh is
set to release her debut solo album. Titled Imeall - which
means 'edge' - it will be produced in a limited edition run of just 3,000
copies and goes on sale on Friday week. Altan
website Saturday January 31 Figures from Chart Track, which compiles the official Irish music
chart for the Irish Recorded Music Association, show that sales of
music in the Irish market fell by 14 per cent last
year.
Time for a remould? Then take yourself off to the
Irish Music Retreat in Texas this October. More Here
Friday January 30 Influential folk singer John Martyn, originally
from Britian but resident in Kilkenny for many years, has died aged 60. More
Here Wednesday January 28 Sharon Shannon is to receive the prestigious "Lifetime Achievement
Award" at this year's Meteor Ireland Music Awards, which take place at the
RDS Dublin on St Patrick's Day. Damien Dempsey is among
four nominees for Best Male Singer. Wednesday January 21 An album in memory of the singer Mícheál Ó
Domhnaill - compiled by his sisters Triona and Maighread -
has been released. More
Here
Tuesday January 20 Fiddler Liam O’Connor and piper Seán
McKeon, who play the Temple Bar Tradfest later this month,
come from two of Dublin’s most famous musical families, but their new CD
sees them putting their own stamp on the tradition. More
Here Saturday January 17 Co
Down singer Fil Campbell next month tours
Northern Ireland, England and Scotland with a repertoire that focuses
on Irish folk songs of the 1930s and 40s. More
Here Thursday January 15 DATES for the 2009 World
Bodhran Championships in Milltown, Co Kerry, have
been announced. The event will again take place on the June bank holiday
weekend running from May 29 to June 1. More
Here
January 14 Compass have reissued three Irish traditional classic
albums: The Bothy Band, Molloy, Brady & Peoples, and Mairtin
O'Connor's The Connachtman's Rambles. More
Here
IRISH MUSIC "has always been a shining light through the
dark times", actor Stephen Rea said as he unveiled details of the
Temple Bar traditional music festival yesterday. Read
More A large group of Irish musicians travelled to New York
this week to participate in the world’s largest performing arts showcase,
the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) conference. Read
More
Monday
January 3 Scotch and Irish traditions come together in the form of a
new album featuring Julie Fowlis and Muireann Nic
Amhlaoibh and supporting musicians. See Irish
Times It's Irish music summer school time down under and this
Australian gathering is now in its tenth year. Click
Here for details.
Sunday
January 4 Sharon Shannon and Mundy's
recording of The Galway Girl was the biggest selling single in
Ireland last year, according to Irma.
Saturday
January 3 Patsy
Gilmore, born
in Ballygar in Co Galway in 1829, founded the 32 man Gilmore Band in
Boston, organised the massive five-day "Peace Jublilee" in Boston in
1862 and composed When Johnny Comes Marching Home among other
songs. The
Irish Times. Have you a song in mind?
Shane McGowan reportedly earns 20,000 euro annually for
his authorship of Fairytale of New York. Leitrim duo
Damien O'Brien (fiddle) and Oliver
Loughlin (piano accordion) have a fresh album, Factory
Turn, reviewed in The
Irish World.
July - December '08 Newsletter March - June '08
Newsletter
Irish
Music Festivals, 2009
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