Irish Trad Music Blog

(Photo credit: Wikipedia ) July 26th – August 2nd, 2014 www.scoilacla.com Achill Island, Co. Mayo The annual Scoil Acla summer school takes place on Achill Island, Co. Mayo. Scoil Acla is Ireland’s oldest summer school, originally founded in 1910 and re–launched in 1985. Scoil Acla follows the usual format of daily music classes which run from Monday to Saturday on the following instruments, accordion, banjo, flute, concertina, fiddle, harp, tin whistle, uilleann pipes and bodhrán with beginners, intermediate and advanced students being catered for on all instruments.  Other workshops available are in Art, creative writing, basket weaving, dancing and a course on Gaeilg’ Acla, the Achill dialect of Irish. Throughout the week they have recitals, poetry readings, creative writing readings, indoor and outdoor concerts, sessions, walks, talks, exhibitions and much more. Scoil Acla invites a musician in residence each year to attend the summer school. Previous mu...

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) A special fundraising event to support Mairead Hussey will be staged at the Union Inn ion Levenshulme on Tuesday 13 May The Levenshulme Pub Company, the Keegan Academy of Irish Dance, the Manchester Mayo Tourism and Business group and the Full Irish Radio have all joined forces to stage a special fund raising event to support Manchester’s New Rose of Tralee winner – Mairead Hussey. The group will be staging a mammoth Irish Music and Dancing session in the Union Inn on Stockport Road in Levenshulme. The Levenshulme Pub Company are donating all the bar takings from the event to help support Mairead and her sponsors The Keegan Academy of Irish Dance who are going over for trip the Regional Final. Mairead commented “I’m really excited about the Rose of Tralee Regional Final in Ireland and the tremendous amount of support that I have been getting from everyone in Manchester. I’m hoping that all my friends and family will come do...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia )  Saturday 26 April @ London Irish Centre, London, GB We're delighted to welcome John Spillane back to The London Irish Centre. JOHN SPILLANE is a musician, songwriter, performer, recording artist, storyteller, poet, dreamer - a canvass filled with color and brilliance. His music transports the listener; his live performance captivates the audience. In a world filled with strife and upheaval, a time-out with John Spillane is enough to ease the load a bit on anyone lucky enough to bask in his light. The man and his music are pure magic. What makes John special is that he is an artist who knows how to deliver all that he has to offer to anyone of any age, male or female, no matter the musical preference. Place him in the genre of folk, acoustic, traditional, world or pop - that’s fine with John. He’s a man who is very comfortable in his skin. Whether performing solo with guitar, with gentle accompaniment or with full band before 10, 1...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia ) On Friday 9 May at 8pm We Banjo 3 will be performing at Strule Arts Centre. The award-winning quartet from Galway, Ireland combine Irish Music with Old-Time American and Bluegrass influences to reveal the banjo’s rich legacy and roots. When this band of brothers take flight in a wave of virtuosity, verve and joie-de-vivre, feet tap and pulses race. Enda & Fergal Scahill and Martin & David Howley are among the most celebrated and distinguished young musicians in Ireland today. Featuring banjo, fiddle, mandolin, guitar, vocals and percussion. We Banjo 3 make a bold and extraordinary musical statement. Creativity, sensitivity and passion are present in full measure and Irish music is at the heart of what they play. Their debut album Roots of the Banjo Tree won Irish Times Trad Album of the Year and Album of the Year in the Chicago publication Irish American News. We Banjo 3 have been racking up acclaim in recen...

Brian Boru, King of Munster (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Composed and Directed by Michael Rooney for the The National Folk Orchestra of Ireland. For the Millennium Celebration of Brian Ború in 2014 - Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann has commissioned composer Michael Rooney to write a suite of music reflecting the life of Brian Ború. The Suite will be performed in four Irish venues by the National Folk Orchestra Ireland during Easter week 2014. The Orchestra, which will include both traditional and classical musicians, will be made up of the leading young musicians from around the country and will be augmented by dancers, singers and actors. 2014 marks the 1,000 anniversary of the Battle of Clontarf, where Brian Ború defeated the Vikings but was slain in battle. The Government and Local Authorities around the country will mark this momentous date with a variety of events and festivals throughout the year. As part of the celebrations, Comhaltas has commissioned composer ...

Galway Bay near County Clare. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Moonlight On Galway Bay’, the much-anticipated album of big songs by Seán Tyrrell, is finally here, and the acclaimed folk singer will launch the album in Matt Molloy’s Pub in Westport this coming Thursday night, April 24, at 8pm The idea for the album was dreamt up back in the early ’90s by Davy Spillane, who suggested these classics tracks be covered. A chance request for ‘Galway Bay’ from an old lady at the Milwaukee festival many years later got Seán thinking. Once he read the lyrics, he was hooked. Humbled by what he had ignorantly regarded as songs for the corned-beef and cabbage circuit, he set to work learning them. He has taken old gems and lovingly breathed new life into them, presenting them in his own unmistakeable style. These songs include ‘Danny Boy’, ‘Galway Bay’, ‘I’ll Take You Home Again Kathleen’, ‘The Black Velvet Band’, ‘Come Back Paddy Reilly’. No big symphonic manoeuvres here: For Seán it i...

Cliffs along the Atlantic coastline of County Mayo, near Ballycastle, Ireland (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The young traditional music group ‘Iontas’ from Coola Post Primary School, Riverstown, County Sligo, are the Siansa Gael Linn 2014 winners! At the Grand Finale concert in the National Concert Hall on Sunday, 6th of April 2013, they were chosen from among eight finalists of a high standard for this prestigious award. It is the third time a group from County Sligo has won the Siansa Grand Finale after’Spraoi’ in 2009 and ‘Teaspach’ in 2012. Siansa is  a competition for young traditional Irish music and singing groups, organized annually by Gael Linn, with support from Foras na Gaeilge, RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta and Irish Music Magazine. Áine Hensey, popular presenter with RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, compered the  show which was broadcast live by the station on the night. Each participating group - Trioscar from County Waterford, Na Rógairí from Dublin, Ceoltó...