Rounder Records Debut Features Guests Steve Earle, Rhiannon Giddens, Vince Gill, Brendan Gleeson, Jamey Johnson, Kate Rusby, The SteelDrivers, Abigail Washburn, and others.

As one of the world’s most renowned and imaginative interpreters of Irish folk music, Dervish have devoted the last three decades to gently reinventing the traditional songs of their homeland. On their debut release for Rounder Records, the Sligo-based band join up with over a dozen luminaries across an eclectic range of genres.

Featuring guests Steve Earle, Rhiannon Giddens, Vince Gill, Brendan Gleeson, Jamey Johnson, Kate Rusby, The SteelDrivers, Abigail Washburn, and others, The Great Irish Songbook both preserves the spirit of each song and brings a new vitality to iconic traditional songs of their homeland. (more…)

A Waterford brother and sister will be amongst the seventeen competitors who will take to the stage for the final of the Seán Ó Riada Gold Medal competition for fiddle in the Rochestown Park Hotel in Cork on Friday 1 February.  The final will be broadcast live on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta from 7 pm.

Ademar O’Connor, 15, from Edenderry in Co. Offaly will be the youngest competitor this year, and there will be three musicians flying in from the US for the event.  The winner will take home the prestigious gold medal, designed by the late Cashel Goldsmith Pádraig Mac Mathúna, and a cash prize of €2500. (more…)

Bewley’s Café Theatre, Grafton Street
Thursday, 21 February, 2019

6p.m. – 8p.m. (Doors open from 5.45 p.m.)

Coming to us from Galway for this event will be the lively group ‘COGAR’ 
Seosamh Ó Fátharta (Button Accordian), Maidhc Ó hÉanaigh (Flute), Mícheál Mac Fhlannchaidh (Bouzouki) along with Paul McClure (Bodhrán).

ADMISSION: €15 (nibbles included!) Wine, Beer, Soft Drinks, Tea & Coffee available for purchase.

Booking essential (limited space!)

087/2547574

Call for applications: Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council Arts Office Musicians-in-Residence Scheme 2019

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and Music Network are pleased to announce details of the 2019 Musicians-in-Residence Scheme. The scheme is jointly funded by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and the Arts Council, and is managed by Music Network. Three residencies are offered in 2019: two for established musicians/groups and one for an emerging musician/group.

Established and emerging individual musicians from all genres with a strong connection to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown are invited to apply by Tuesday 19th February 2019 at 2.00pm. (more…)

Bewley’s Café Theatre, Grafton Street
THURSDAY, 17 JANUARY 2019
6p.m. – 8p.m. (Doors open from 5.45 p.m.)

A great start to 2019 with music and song from
the young, vibrant Waterford-based group, and friends!

‘NUADÁN’
Pax Ó Faoláin — fiddle,voice
Mardara Ó Faoláin — Bouzouki, Piano, Voice
Iarlaith Mac Gabhann — Flute, whistles

Colm McGonigle— Concertina

ADMISSION: €15 (nibbles included!)

Wine, Beer, Soft Drinks, Tea & Coffee available for purchase

Booking essential (limited space!)

087/2547574

feat. Grammy-winning banjo player Ron Block of Alison Krauss & Union Station.

Award Winning Singer/Songwriter Aoife Scott releases a very special seasonal single, The December Letter Out Dec 14th, featuring Grammy-winning banjo player Ron Block of Alison Krauss & Union Station.

It is Scott’s first release since she collaborated with her cousins Danny O’ Reilly (The Coronas) and Róisín O on the famous Irish ballad ‘Grace’, which went straight to #1 on the iTunes charts in March 2017.

A member of the legendary Irish folk music family, The Black Family, Aoife Scott is an award-winning folk singer and songwriter who has steadily made a name for herself in traditional and folk music scenes around the world. Last year, her single “All Along the Wild Atlantic Way” hit the #1 spot on iTunes, knocking Ed Sheeran off the top. It was also named “Song of the Year” at the Irish Folk Music Awards in 2017. (more…)

https://www.facebook.com/ticket.to.happiness/

The up-and-coming German folk band “Ticket to Happiness” were able to call a tremendous success their own in the finals of the “Deutscher Rock and Pop Preis 2018″ (German Rock and Pop Awards 2018), which took place in Siegen. They won awards for 8 categories, among them five first places and three second places. The band especially swept the jury away in the folk music category, winning first place for awards such as best folk rock band, best folk rock album (All Aboard, 2018), best folk rock song (Icarus), and best folk rock singer (Jan Philipp Bäumer). Additionally they also won best country singer (Jan Philipp Bäumer). They were able to convince the jury with their highly esteemed debut album “All Aboard”, which sports 12 original and fresh folk songs, as well as with their live performance of their single “Icarus”. The band consists of Jan Philipp Bäumer (vocals), Mona Kaczmarzcyk (violin), Patrick Helle (mandolin, banjo, cajón) and Yannick Helle (guitars). Usually they have additional support in the form of their double-bass players Jonathan Schnurr and/or Stefan Schwarzinger. With the help of this grandiose success they were able to rise up to the top division of the German folk scene. For 2019, they have planned an extensive tour with numerous gigs.

For further information visit https://www.facebook.com/ticket.to.happiness/

Celtic Colours releases sixth volume of live recordings, just in time for Christmas

Exciting young groups from Scotland and Cape Breton Island bookend this sixth volume of Celtic Colours Live. Recorded at concerts during Celtic Colours 2018, Volume Sixfeatures an impressive collection of traditional and contemporary tunes and songs—in English and Gaelic—by performers from Scotland, Ireland, England, the United States, mainland Nova Scotia, and Cape Breton.

(more…)

www.musicnetwork.ie

“One of the earthiest and most distinctive voices, not just in traditional circles, but anywhere” – The Irish Times [on Nic Amhlaoibh]

“One of the best Scottish traditional singers on the planet” - Folk Roots [on Miller]

“A subtlety of approach to his art that leaves you in awe of the simplistic beauty of it all” – Irish Music Magazine [on Mullane]

“Anna Massie’s deft banjo and guitar compelling at the heart” - MOJO

Kickstart the year with a vocal match made in heaven, featuring the ethereal voice of award-winning Scottish songstress Siobhan Miller and the honeyed tones of Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh on tour 16th – 26th January 2019, details at musicnetwork.ie. The Corca Dhuibhne singer and flautist Nic Amhlaoibh and Scots songbird Miller will be joined by accordionist extraordinaire Damien Mullane and the stylish accompaniment of Anna Massie on guitar showcasing a variety of traditional Irish and Scots songs and tunes alongside exciting contemporary material. Expect these players to strike sparks off each other!

Winner of the 2018 BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for Best Traditional Track, Miller has been lauded as “the finest young interpreter of Scots traditional song”, while highly-acclaimed singer and flautist Nic Amhlaoibh (recent winner of RTÉ Folk Awards ‘Best Traditional Folk Track of the Year’) is best known for her performances as a solo artist and with Irish super group Danú, and her work as a TV and radio presenter.

Gifted accordionist Damien Mullane brings his unique creative talents to the collaboration. Winner of numerous All-Ireland titles on both accordion and melodeon, Mullane has collaborated with stars from a wide range of genres including Ronnie Wood, James Taylor and Sting. Completing the line-up, fleet-fingered guitarist and banjo player Anna Massie is renowned for her work with Blazin’ Fiddles and such luminaries as Bella Hardy, Julie Fowlis, Kate Rusby, Capercaillie and Eddi Reader.

Music Network’s mission is to make live music available and accessible to as many people as possible, giving Irish audiences the chance to experience the very best in international chamber, jazz, roots and traditional music in venues throughout Ireland at affordable prices. All tours are co-promoted with a network of valued partner promoters across the country in order to develop local capacity to provide musical activity. In addition, Music Network connects its tours with music education programmes and groups around the country including Music Generation participants, primary, second and third level students, Music Capital Scheme awardees, and music schools and groups nationwide.

Also this Spring, Claire Duff and Benjamin Alard will remind us why Bach’s music continues to inspire and move audiences worldwide over 250 years after his death, and Grammy Award-winning singer Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi whisk you away on a globe- and genre-trotting musical tour. If you are still up for more, April brings the passionate and vibrant cello playing of Raphaela Gromes with her long-term collaborator Julian Riem, and in a rousing season finale, things step up a gear with French-Canadian folk supergroup De Temps Antan.

(more…)