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June 1st – 17th, 2012
www.galwaysessions.com
A cultural agreement was signed on March 16th by Mayor Hildegarde Naughton and Provost Fergus Wood cementing the growing relationship between Galway and Stirling. The joint festival, now in its 3rd year will take place in both cities over a two week period from June 1st - 17th, 2012.
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May 18th – 20th, 2012
www.skerriestraditionalmusic.com
2012 marks the 11th Skerries Trad Music Weekend and sees this wonderful event establishing itself as the signature Trad Music Festival of Irelands’ east coast. The picturesque seaside town of Skerries in North County Dublin plays host to a weekend full of music, song and dance reflecting the unique culture of the Fingal region. Leading artists travel to Skerries where they join with locals and visitors in a celebration of our Irish heritage.
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www.facebook.com/thecafesessions
The Café Sessions are delighted to be hosting Heidi Talbot and her band at The Temple Gate Hotel on Friday 27th April.
Heidi last performed in Ireland alongside Eddi Reader and Tim O’Brien but is returning to Ireland for three special shows which includes Co Clare and features her own material and group John McCusker and Ian Carr ahead of going in to studio to record the follow up to her acclaimed release ‘The Last Star’.
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In conjunction with the recent 2012 release of her new album The Plum Tree and The Rose (currently charting at No. 3 on the Folk Radio Chart, No. 4 on the UK Roots Radio Airplay Chart and No. 5 on the Euro Americana chart), Sarah McQuaid sets out on tour across Ireland and Northern Ireland – see details of dates below.
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Banjo legend passes on
Barney McKenna, known affectionately as “Banjo Barney” by thousands of Dubliners Fans has passed away on April 5th aged 72. A member of the group since their formation some 50 years ago, in O’Donoghue’s Pub in Dublin’s Merrion Row. Barney brought not only the banjo but a keen wit to the ballad group. On stage he rarely said much, letting his banjo speak for him, but when called on to add a few lines they were often memorable. He was famous for his stories many were unbelievable but were delivered with such charm as to become known as ‘Barneyisms’.
His legacy is literally in the hands of thousands of traditional banjo players. He is credited as the man who brought the tenor banjo back into traditional music, it had been around in the Irish American dance halls of the 1920’s an escapee from the jazz era, in those days the banjo was tuned CGDA, the maestros of the day preferring rapid fire chord sequences. It was McKenna who popularized the now common Irish tuning GDAE, an octave below the fiddle, which made it eminently suitable for playing melody.
Barney took his tenor banjo around the world with the Dubliners and introduced thousands to such tunes as The Swallows Tail, The Fermoy Lasses and Sporting Paddy and his show stopper The Mason’s Apron. A fine player of the instrument he was not adverse to sending it and himself up.
An important musician for sure and an exemplary entertainer. Irish music has lost a legend, and Irish banjo players everywhere should mourn that their musical Godfather is no longer with us.
May he rest in peace.
Anú Pictures in association with RTÉ
presents
3-TRIÚR (In Search of Musical Form)
A Documentary by Dónal Ó Céilleachair
On RTE 1, 10.10 pm, Tuesday, April 3rd
3 Triúr (In Search of Musical Form) is a documentary on the ongoing collaboration between three of Ireland’s most distinguished musicians - Peadar Ó Riada, Martin Hayes & Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh - in an intimate portrait of “the act and art of making music”.
It’s rare for musicians of this calibre to allow a filmmaker such extensive access to the intimate, private, often painful creative process, but that’s exactly what they’ve agreed to do for this documentary: an incredible opportunity to view the tradition from three unique perspectives and generations. The musicality of the documentary is complemented by an intimate, personal dimension, given the close bonds that have have grown steadily between the three as they swap stories, thoughts, ideas and tunes in a swirling exploration of the creative process that journeys to the “heart of our music”.
