Irish Trad Music Blog

"As emcee and frequent backstage manager, I missed most of the concert tribute to Joe Derrane inside Stage One of the Fairfield Theatre Company in Fairfield, Conn. Despite massive traffic congestion on I-95 that caused a few patrons to arrive late, it was a wall-to-wall, cheek-by-jowl, overcapacity crowd in that theatre, and the e-mail and phone pleas for tickets to the sold-out event were especially intense during the last few days leading up to Nov. 13, the concert date. The purpose of this “concert for the ages” was fourfold: (1) to pay homage to the life and music of 80-year-old button accordionist and composer Joe Derrane; (2) to celebrate his new recording, “Grove Lane” (Compass), which is his seventh overall since his fabled comeback in 1994 at Wolf Trap; (3) to raise money and recognition for the concert’s sponsor, the Shamrock Traditional Irish Music Society, a not-for-profit organization that has done yeoman work in promoting and presenting the best in Irish tradition...

When Oisin Mac Diarmada leaves for the U.S. this week for his annual "Irish Christmas in America" tour (including a stop at AMSDconcerts on Dec. 1), one thing he'll leave behind on the Emerald Isle is his love of tea. "I'm not thinking about tea, I'm thinking about coffee!" he said by phone last week from his home in County Sligo. When you've been spoiled by Barry's and Lyons one's whole life, Lipton's is kind of hard to accept. And if most Americans would readily admit that we can't brew a decent pot of tea to save our lives, he pointed out that we Yanks do know how to make a nice pot of coffee. Mac Diarmada should know; his full-time band, Teada, tours most of the year, and is a regular on the folk circuit in the States. He said he started the annual "Irish Christmas in America" tour six years ago as an opportunity to share Irish holiday traditions with Americans. "It's a more broad show; people come to it wh...

As I sit down in Radio City Music Hall, I think I know exactly what I’m getting myself into. I’m here on a Friday night to see Celtic Thunder, yet another Irish musical export that has exploded in popularity across the United States. Since their formation in 2006 by creator-producer Sharon Browne and composer Phil Coulter, Celtic Thunder has released four extremely successful albums and appeared on numerous PBS specials. Like their female counterparts Celtic Woman, they seem to have particularly captivated the Irish-American audience, with their careful balance of Irish traditional songs and updated classics." Celtic Thunder's Global Appeal | Irish America | IrishCentral : "

"Catch some of the joy of the Irish at the Lindsays' CD release concert for “From the Green to the Blue” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Navigator Coffeehouse, 55 Ashumet Road, Falmouth. The husband-and-wife Celtic duo has been making music together for 10 years and performs an eclectic fusion of Irish ballads and traditional jigs and reels with contemporary rock and folk. Susan Gedutis Lindsay plays saxophone, Irish flute and whistle, and Dublin native Stephen Lindsay plays guitar and sings. Their music is inspired by the Dublin ballad tradition, but is blended with world percussion instruments, from Middle Eastern frame drums to African water drums." Sound Choice: Lindsays release colorful CD | CapeCodOnline.com

By Ilkka Malmberg Finns like the Irish (in much the same way that they like the Greeks, as it happens). You know, those jolly fellows of the Emerald Isle with their red hair and freckles, and their moustaches white with Guinness foam - people with whom you can sing in a pub, nursing some inexplicable yearning for something. Who would have anything bad to say about the Irish? Who could be so heartless, listening to a tin whistle over a dewy heath, while watching a flock of sheep, with the aftertaste of whiskey lingering in the mouth? But what happens after these half-dozen or so clichés of Ireland run out? What comes after St. Patrick, the shamrocks, and the sacred potato? Familiar Irish brands include Guinness, Jameson, Bushmills and Baileys, but if we leave out the booze, no Irish products come to mind immediately, unless we throw in U2 and Bono. Yes, and then there is the cut-rate airline Ryanair, which caused an upheaval in air transport through...

Image via Wikipedia "YOUNGSTERS were hitting all the right notes at musical workshops held to celebrate an international sporting competition in Inverness . More than 20 children from primary five to seven, attended the free sessions at Inverness Ice Rink on Saturday before Scotland and Ireland faced off in the shinty and hurling match at Bught Park. The children were given the chance to learn traditional songs on the accordion and tin whistle and play a game of shinty. The events were organised by Feis Ros in partnership with the Camanachd Association. David Nisbet, a science teacher at Kingussie High School, took the accordion workshops." Give a little whistle at traditional music workshops - Press & Journal