July 20th – 27th, 2013
www.joemooneysummerschool.com

Twenty five years a–growing and now in full bloom. The story of its growth is both interesting and amazing. It began in 1989 when a small seed was sown in a small town in Co. Leitrim by a small group of people who set out to promote the unique style of Leitrim music and traditional culture.
From small beginnings, it has organically grown from year–to–year and has become widely–known and highly regarded on the traditional calendar. It now provides traditional music workshops, singing and set dancing for over 1000 students. The list of traditional tutors, more than fifty at this stage, consists of the crème de la crème such as Pat Murphy, Joe and Ann Conroy Burke, Neillidh Mulligan, Noel Hill, John Wynne, Michael Hurley, Rosie Stewart, Paddy Ryan, John Daly, Síle Denvir, Deirdre Chawke, Michael McCague, and talented younger generation tutors – Dónal McCague–TG4 Ceoltóir Óg na Bliana 2013, Dave Sheridan, Padraig Mc Govern, Lisa Ward, Martin Howley, Fiachra Ó Regan, Lorcán Mac Mathúna and many more.
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July 14th – 20th, 2013
www.sssschool.org

The South Sligo Summer School of Traditional Music, Song & Dance takes place in Tubbercurry, Co. Sligo, from July 14th – 20th, 2013. Now in its 27th year and firmly established on the traditional music summer calendar, the whole community in Tubbercurry look forward once again to welcoming friends old and new for a week long total immersion in all that is positive and life affirming about our wonderful traditional music.
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Earagail Arts Festival June 21st – July 21st, 2013
www.eaf.ie / www.donegalgathering.com / www.thegatheringirleand.com

The annual bilingual Earagail Arts Festival is celebrating is 25th year of artistic programming in Co. Donegal. The festival is renowned for hosting the very best of music, theatre, visual arts and literature and this year will be no different. Paul Brown, Festival Director with the Earagail Arts Festival commented…“We’re really looking forward to this year’s festival, shows like Clannad & Altan and Josh Ritter which reflect the local and international flavour of the festival and which we announced at the end of last year are selling really well already, so we’re well under way in making this a real birthday party”.
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Gweedore, County Donegal, June 21st – 23rd, 2013
www.voicesandharps.com
Now in its third year, Clannad’s Moya Brennan and harp maestro, Cormac De Barra’s exclusive Voices & Harps workshop takes place on the weekend of June 21st – 23rd. The appeal has spread wide and this year the workshop will host visitors from Germany, France, Japan and the UK – as well as a number of homegrown enthusiasts. Places are limited in order to ensure personal attention to all participants but there are still a few places left.
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June 28th–30th, 2013
www.celticfusion.co.uk

The Celtic Fusion International Musical Arts Festival 2013 returns to Castlewellan in County Down, Northern Ireland for its twelfth incarnation. Celtic Fusion will take place over the weekend from Friday June 28th until Sunday June 30th.

This year the main event is launched on Saturday May 18th at 8pm by a Celtic Fusion Showcase concert in the fabulous Lodge Cultural Centre with Breanndán Ó Beaghlaoich and Laoise Kelly supported by The Grainne Holland Band.

Check out www.celticfusion.co.uk for full details.
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June 17th – 23rd, 2013
www.galwaysessions.com

This week–long annual festival hosts a packed programme of events across the historic city of Galway including concerts, recitals, parades, street entertainment & oodles of sessions in the city’s many famed traditional music pubs.
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Felix Dolan, one of the true gentlemen of the tradition passed away at home in Scarsdale, New York on April 7th aged 76 years. Felix Dolan was noted for his stylish and very sensitive piano playing and his album A Tribute to Michael Coleman with Andy McCann and Joe Burke is one of the seminal recordings of Irish’ American music of the twentieth century.

A busy musician, he began playing the button box in the 1940’s. Known for his live performances and his mentoring of young talent, although he has not left us a large legacy of recorded work, but what he did commit to vinyl and CD was of the highest quality. Never what we now call a full–time professional musician, he was employed for over thirty years by IBM, rising to their head of security. He took a break from the music whilst he raised his family and returned to playing after his retirement. Dolan was a hugely influential and well–liked figure both in New York, North America and in Ireland. We extend our sympathies to his family and many friends on both sides of the Atlantic.

Donie Carroll is very well–known in Irish music circles in New York. Many know him from his work with the Washington Square Harp and Shamrock Orchestra. His debut album Down the Slippery Gap brought him to the attention of many in the US Irish American community and for those who are based or visit the Big Apple, you can catch him live on Friday and Saturday nights at Murphy’s Bar in Sunnyside, Queens.

Dan Neeley of the Irish Echo says “Donie Carroll’s new DC, Divil of a Noise, is a wonderful album that explores Donie’s nostalgia for growing up in Cork and for when he first fell in love with music.” His album is somewhere between Seamus Creagh and Jimmy Crowley. Full of some great songs, such as an Irish re–working of the Vesta Tilley song the Army of Today, the track opens with Eamon de Valera’s reply to Churchill’s criticism of Ireland’s WWII neutrality. The songs could have been plucked from a Saturday afternoon on Radio Eireann in the 1960’s and we feature one of numbers, The Moon Behind The Hill as our Story Behind the Song article this month.

www.barruletrio.com

The unique sound of traditional Manx music is the Celtic Music World’s best kept secret. This is set to change with the introduction of Barrule, an exciting new trio hell–bent on taking the Isle of Man’s music to a much wider audience.

Named after the famous Manx summit where legend says the ancient Celtic God Manannan MacLir stalked his mighty fortress, Barrule fuses three distinct musical forces – gifted 19–year–old fiddle–player Tomas Callister, accordion wizard Jamie Smith (of Mabon) and Adam Rhodes (Mabon and Manx band King Chiaullee) on bouzouki.
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www.ramblingboys.org

The Rambling Boys of Pleasure are a collection of Irish musicians who love to explore their music and look for new directions in which to take it. Their aim is to explore the influence of Celtic music in different cultures around the globe, and to see if they can take that merging of cultures somewhere new. Having been brought up on songs that have travelled the globe and returned, they are fascinated by the journey these songs have taken, and the influences they picked up on the way. Wherever they travel, they intend to work with local musicians, and incorporate their music and culture into their set.

By working with local musicians, they aim to explore the commonality in their storytelling and song–writing traditions, and hope that this cultural cross–fertilisation will inspire all involved to create new works. The Rambling Boys of Pleasure are: Bernard O’Neill, Gino Lupari, Alan Burke, David Munnelly and Sean Regan. They have a sampler EP out now on iTunes. The Rambling Boys of Pleasure were heading into the studio at the end of April to make a full album.