Irish Trad Music Blog

Stepping out (Photo credit: Irish Philadelphia Photo Essays ) A year ago Terry Sullivan came down from his home in Bristol, CT to help with the Irish outreach to folks in the Rockaways who needed so much help after Superstorm Sandy. Now Sullivan, a musician and long-time Comhaltas officer and member who currently serves as the vice chair of the Northeast region of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann, needs our help in his personal struggle fighting an inoperable brain tumor diagnosed in October. Sullivan is a devoted family man and veteran with 20 years of service to his credit. His friends in the Burke-Curry-Seery branch in the Hartford area of Connecticut have organized a big benefit this Sunday, November 24 from 1-5 p.m. at the Irish American Home Society in Glastonbury (www.irishamericanhome.com) to raise funds to deal with the mounting expenses. Along with local entertainment, there will be a pasta buffet served at 2 p.m. and a raffle. Suggested admission is $20 donat...

Seamus Heaney Collected Poems (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) In the darkness, on the bank of the Thames, Seamus Heaney’s voice, one so recently gone, filled the hall, “Between my finger and my thumb. The squat pen rests; snug as a gun.” Tickets for the celebration in the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall of the life of Ireland’s greatest modern poet had been gone for weeks, with holders warned to hand back the unwanted. A photograph of Heaney as a young man filled the backdrop, photographs that aged as the evening progressed, telling the story of his life through the changes in his poetry. The uilleann pipes of Liam O’Flynn and Neil Martin’s cello set the Irish tone for the evening, one captured later by the The Chieftains with “Lullaby for the Dead”. Poet, Andrew O’Hagan described his late friend as “an anchor for poetry” who had replenished the imagination, one whose every word issued tolerance.

Cover of Christy Moore The legendary singer-songwriter Christy Moore, one of Ireland’s greatest musical icons of the current day is coming to the Radisson Blu Hotel, Athlone for a special performance for one night only Saturday 7th December, having just launched a brand new album titled “Where I Come From”. 2013 has been a year of great success for Christy Moore who appeared alongside Declan Sinnott in a series of dates around Ireland and the UK including two sell out shows at London’s Royal Festival Hall before returning to Irish shores for an exhilarating series of summer appearances at the Live at the Marquee concert series, the Big Top at the Galway Arts Festival and Electric Picnic.

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) January 16th–20th, 2014 www.wmw.ie The Shannonside Winter Music Weekend has been going from strength–to–strength over the last few years, and next January’s event marks another step forward for this eclectic festival of the best in acoustic music.  Between January 16th and 20th, almost 80 concerts, pub gigs, sessions, and shows will keep the villages of Sixmilebridge and Bunratty buzzing and bouncing with acts from far and wide, as well as the cream of local talent.

Oriel window in Oriel (Photo credit: Lawrence OP ) Ceolta Cruit – The Melody of the Harp at Ceol Oirghialla The gala concert at this year’s DkIT TradWeek focuses on the music of the harp and the great collections of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The concert, one of a series of events celebrating ten years of music at DkIT, takes place at 7pm on 21 November 2013 in the MacAnna Theatre on the DkIT campus and features the Ceol Oirghialla Traditional Music Ensemble with special guests Ann Heymann, Lisa Butler and Daoirí Farrell. The Ceol Oirghialla Traditional Ensemble comprises over forty musicians drawn from the DkIT community, including undergraduates, postgraduates, graduates and staff. The Ensemble proudly represents the Institute at a variety of events, enriching the cultural life of the community and the North-East. American based Ann Heymann is today’s first Gaelic harper to approach the cláirseach using rigorously applied historical and traditional ...

Cover of Andy Irvine Irish music legend Andy Irvine is returning to Ballina Arts Centre this Thursday, November 21 at 8pm, for a special intimate concert. Irvine’s music career has spanned an incredible 50 years, and he has been at the heart of Irish folk music throughout that time. In the 1960s, he and Johnny Moynihan formed the seminal group Sweeney’s Men, before leaving Ireland to travel through the Balkan countries, having become enamoured with the music of Eastern Europe. On his return, he joined Christy Moore, Donal Lunny and Liam Óg Ó Flynn to form Planxty, forever changing the sound and spirit of Irish traditional and folk music. With the demise of Planxty, Irvine recorded a classic album with Paul Brady, and since the 1980s he has been a part of exciting supergroups, such as Patrick Street and most recently Mozaik, thrilling audiences around the world with intricate and exultant music. Throughout his various collaborations and pairings, Irvine has also main...