Gaels at the Gaol

I’ll leave the symbolism for others to divine but it must be said the atmosphere outside the building in which  the McCracken Summer School’s historic Gaels at the Gaol gig was about to take place, was electric.

The Crumlin Road was overhung by a pale blue sky interspersed with pinkish wisps of cloud (a good omen) and the day’s light getting steadily weaker but the black basalt mined from the Belfast Hills and the Scottish sandstone from which the prison was built made for a stark contrast.

A further contrast was the plush carpeting on the stairs up to the expansive performance room, something the former inmates could only have dreamed off.

Indeed this was a dream come true for some. Despite some recent disconcerting news, we would hope that the north’s jails would echo with the sounds of Irish and other cultures rather than the suffering of further inmates.

I have to be honest and say I missed the first half of the show through work commitments but I’m told I missed great sets from Gàidhlig singer Mhàiri Hall, accompanied on the piano by Sineag MacIntyre as well as local troubadour Barry Kerr with Shane McAleer and Eamonn Murray.

However disappointed I was by missing this array of talent, the second half was treat enough for anyone.

What I liked about Donal Lunny and Martin O’Connor’s set was the simple complexity – I like a good oxymoron – of their playing.

I was sat near a speaker and I could hear every nuance of Lunny’s bouzouki playing as it hopped and skipped through tunes old and new, arm in arm with O’Connor’s box playing.

Starting off with the well-known jig Banish Misfortune, the Galwayman toyed and played with the tune like a kitten with a ball of wool to his own delight and the delight of those looking on. So long have O’Connor and Lunny been playing tunes, they have become part of their being by a process of osmosis. Man, instrument and tune as one and it is wonderful to behold as well as being great fun on a night where many suffered from permagrin such was the enjoyment the got from the music, be it jig, reel or slow air. (They did a sublime version of Carolan’s Fanny Power.)

Róisín Elsafty

Joining the two musical heroes was Conamara singer, Roisin Elsafty (now expecting her third child  – comhghairdeas, a Róisín).

Again, Róisín’s singing is an integral part of her being, ó thaobh na dtaobhann, and her repertoire is rich and varied from the sean-nós Coinlach Glas an Fhómhair to the playful, Pota Mór Fataí. the slightly weird lullaby, Hó-bha-in and, of course An Phailistin.

Let’s hope the jails of Palestine are turned into places of celebration in years to come too but tonight saw mould-breaking entertainment from the McCracken Summer School.

May there be many more.

 

 

 

A mantle of music

Sí Van (l-r) Mary Dillon, Niamh Parsons and Tíona McSherry

The Ulster Fleadh at Dungiven burst into life last night with three totally different acts entertaining a packed St Canice’s Hall with a three-hour show of breadth and depth, of raucous laughter, dark brooding, and irrepressible excitement.

My own reason for heading over the Glenshane Pass was to hear Sí Van, the new trio of Mary Dillon, Niamh Parsons and Tíona McSherry and it wasn’t a wasted journey.

Starting off with Tom Waits’  The Briar and the Rose, the interweaving harmonies were just gorgeous with Niamh taking the lead. The girls followed it with a Tíona-led bluesy American version of an Irish song, Soldier, Soldier before Mary took to the mike with The Stolen Bride, a lullaby as dark as a polar night.

The Sí Van repertoire is full of drama and a rugged beauty that is spellbinding, but they can also lighten things up as the mood takes them.

These are three women who possess the most beautiful voices imaginable but who recognise great, little-heard songs and know how to deliver them in all their glory and in this they were artfully accompanied last night by guitarist Graham Dunne.

As a debut performance, despite – or maybe because of – some understandable first-night nerves, it has whetted the appetite for more to come from this wonderful trio.

(I believe Si Van are to play at Féile an Droichead. More details soon.)

Mary, Niamh and Tíona were followed by the unique character that is Mr John Spillane.

No matter how many times I’ve seen the Corkman – and it is a lot – he never fails to entertain but then how could the composer of Magic Nights at the Lobby Bar, The Dance of the Cherry Trees and his pair of Ballincolligs fail to beguile.

The famous Spillane patter still has people in stitches and there was certainly a great rapport between singer and audience, climaxing in a raucous joint rendition of Oro Sé do Bheatha Bhaile.

Topping the  bill was Buille, the concertina of Niall Vallely and keyboard skills of brother Caoimhin, joined

Niall Vallely

last night by Beoga’s Sean Óg Graham on guitar and Brian Morrison on banjo and bodhrán.

The concertina might not be everyone’s idea of a hip instrument but in the hands of Niall Vallely it becomes something more than itself.

Jazz band, trad musicians, avant-garde cool cats, I doubt there is any group anywhere like Buille. I swear I even heard some funk last night.

Stick whatever label you like on them, the music is high-energy, rhythmic, pulsating and hugely enjoyable, from the opening 1st August/2nd August to Coburg Street Nights.

The evening finished with Sí Van, Spillane and Buille in an ensemble rendition of Ireland’s unofficial Gaelic national anthem, Mo Ghile Mear.  

On Thursday night, the spirit of Irish music rose out of St Canice’s high into the Derry air, fusing up with the spirit of the music played in bygone days to form a protective mantle over the tradition.

It should be a great Fleadh Uladh.

A Feast of Trad

An Droichead on Belfast’s Ormeau Road has announced highlights for this summer’s Feile An Droichead, tickets for which are now on sale.

Now in it’s 4th year, the Féile has become a much anticipated annual event on the traditional arts calendar and attracts some of the finest names on the Irish music scene.

Running over four days from the 23rd – 26th August, Féile An Droichead will host an eclectic range of music events as well as classes, exhibition and film, sport and family events. The Féile compliments what is already a packed year-long schedule of activity for An Droichead which is itself a hub for Irish language and culture in south & east Belfast.

Announcing today’s highlights, An Droichead Arts Officer Claire Kieran said this is one of their most exciting concert line-ups in years:

“We look forward to welcoming some of the most accomplished performers in traditional Irish music at the moment. This year’s Féile will see

The great Donal Lunny

Iarla Ó Lionaird (Thursday 23rd), Caoimhin O Raghallaigh (Friday 24th) and DónalLunny (Saturday 25th) all take to the stage. Joining them over the course ofthe weekend will be other musical luminaries such as Padraig Rynne, Brendan Begley and guitar virtuoso Steve Cooney.”

Welcoming another south Belfast Féile, Director of An Droichead Pól Deeds said all involved were “really excited about this year’s An Droichead Festival and all of the new community and business partners we have brought on board.

“It’s safe to say this will be the biggest and best yet, with some brand new events to involve families in the festivities and to bring in a new audience for traditional music and art in the south of the city.

The idea for this festival grew out of An Droichead’s pro-active and distinctly inter-cultural approach to promoting interest in Irish language and traditional arts. We are proud that this year’s festival shows further success in developing new partnerships that bear fruit.”

Tickets for all concerts are now  on sale  from www.androichead.com

Intellectual Baboons

People are really enjoying the Richard Dawkins quote about the National Trust’s decision to include some creationist piffle at the Giant’s

Richard Dawkins, humanist poster boy

Causeway interpretative centre, as quoted in the Belfast Telegraph.

“The National Trust should not have given any consideration whatsoever to the intellectual baboons of young Earth creationism,” said Dawkins.

The natural habitat for these “Intellectual baboons” is in the Caleb Foundation – “the umbrella organisation which represents the interests of mainstream evangelical Christians in Northern Ireland” is how they describe themselves on their website.

Over in the twittersphere, Professor Brian Cox – he of Wonders of the Universe – said the offending term sounded like a rock band and it the Intellecutal Baboons were a band, what would their first album be called.

Coxy himself suggests Blame it on the Baboonlight but he’s outwitted by Iane Hine’s Baboon in the USA,

Michael Schandorf;s King of the Swingers, Fleagle’s suggestion Baboona Matata and my own favourite, Boris Watch’s Dark Side Of The Baboon and just in, Rhesus to be cheerful 1-2-3 by Anne Dye closely followed by David Clifford’s 99 Red Baboons.

GAA an deireadh seachtaine

Ba chóir go bhfuil aird na nUltach ar Pháirc Mhic Ásmuinn Dé Domhnaigh.  Ach faraor ní fiú níos mó ná fonóta cluiche ceannais Uladh ar chlár na hiomána.

Is mó i bhfad an tsuim ó thuaidh sna cluiche iomána inniu in Inis agus i gCorcaigh agus Dé Domhnaigh i bPáirc an Chrócaigh, dar le Séamus Mac Giolla Fhinnéin

 

Iomáint : Inniu, 7pm

An Clár v Áth Cliath (Beo ar TV3)

Corcaigh v Uí bhFáilí

Dé Domhnaigh

3.30pm Cluiche ceannais Uladh : Aontroim v Doire

4pm Cluiche ceannais Laighin : Cill Chainnigh v An Ghaillimh (Beo ar RTÉ)

 

Bhí fíordhrochdheireadh seachtaine ag iomáint Uladh. D’fhág Aontroim Meitheamh ina ndiaidh agus iad ag ligint isteach   8 gcúl in aghaidh Luimní – agus ansin thosaigh An Dún agus Doire mí Iúil le cluiche thar a bheith leamh i bPáirc Mhic Ásmuinn.

Is dócha nach dtig an milleán a chur ar Dhoire sa chluiche sin.  Bhí mé meallta ag An Dún.  Ní raibh freagra ná fuinneamh acu agus caitheadh isteach an tuáille i bhfad roimh dheireadh an chluiche.

Thosaigh Doire go hiontach le seacht gcúilín sular chuir Paul Braniff An Dún ar an chlár i ndiaidh 15 bhomaite.

Bhí Doire díreach go leor – d’fhág siad an sliotar go fada isteach chuig Ruairí Convery agus bhí fathach Bhaile an tSuaitrigh láidir go leor breith air agus an bratach bán a ardú.

Ach cén seans atá ag seanstíl Dhoire in éadán Aontroma?

De ghnáth, ní thabharfainn seans ar bith i ndiaidh a leithéid de thaispeántas – ach cá bhfuil iomáint Aontroma anois?

Tugadh ar ais roinnt mhaith d’iománaithe Loch gCaol ach leag Luimneach iad uilig amach go luath sa chluiche Dé Sathairn.  Tugadh greadadh dóibh, agus caithfidh nach bhfuil mórán muiníne fágtha acu astu féin anois.

Ach sin ráite, tá Aontroim i bhfad níos fearr ná mar a bhí siad seachtain ó shin, agus tá a fhios acu ina gcroí istigh go bhfuil siad níos fearr ná na contaethe eile i gCúige Uladh.  B’fhéidir nach bhfuil siad san áit cheart mar fhoireann ach, duine i ndiaidh duine, is fearr iad ná an lucht Darach.

Chonaic mé rud maith anseo agus ansiúd i nDoire, ach beidh orthu na scóranna luath sin a fuair siad in éadan An Dúin, beidh orthu iad sin a fháil arís le féinamhras a chur i bhfoireann Aontroma.

Rachaidh mé le hAontroim sa chluiche seo agus i gcluiche na mionúr fosta.

Bhí go leor deacrachtaí ag mionúir An Duin le hArd Mhacha seachtain ó shin.  Níl dabht ar bith i m’intinn gur fearr iad ná foirne eile faoi aoise a chonacthas i ndearg agus dubh le roinnt mhaith de bhlianta, agus gur ullmhaíodh go maith iad fosta.  Nár bhain siad sraith Uladh níba luaithe sa bhliain!

Ach fós féin tá laigí san fhoireann agus iad ag brath barraíocht ar lántosaí mór láidir chun cúil a aimsiú.

Bheadh Aontroim níba chothroime mar fhoireann, ach dá bhfaigheadh Myles Nicholson go leor den tsliotar ……

* Faraoir, beidh níos mó Ultach i bPáirc an Chrócaigh ná i bPáirc Mhic Ásmuinn Dé Domhnaigh, déarfainn.  É sin nó sa bhaile ag amharc ar mháistrí na gcamán ag tabhairt amach ceacht eile iomána.

Bhí ar Bhrian Cody go leor athruithe a dheánamh i mbliana de thairbhe leithéid Eddie Brennan ag iarraidh as an imirt nó roinnt mhaith gortuithe, ach tá an mhuintir úr ag seasamh an fhóid go hiontach.

Tá bonn sraithe i gcúl a ndoirn acu – agus ní raiibh Henry Shefflin ann chun cuidiú leo.  Bhí Henry ar ais in éadan Átha Cliath agus, cé gur aimsigh sé deich gcúilín, uilig ó shaorphocanna, agus a 500ú cúilín den chraobhchomórtas ina measc, níor imir sé go maith!

Ach thug Cody cluiche iomlán dó, rud a bhí de dhíth, agus beidh sé i bhfad níos fearr Dé Domhnaigh.

Bhí Gaillimh níos fearr i mbliana, go nuige seo, ná mar a bhí siad blianta eile – ach síltear go bhfuil laigí acu i measc na gcosantóirí.  Ligeadh isteach barraíocht scóranna in éadan na hIarmhí agus Uí bhFáilí.

Tá na tosaithe ag feidhmniú go maith – ach ní cosantóirí Chill Chainnigh a bhí os a gcomhar.

An bhfuil sé rófhurast a rá go mbainfidh na Cait arís eile?  Sílim go dtabharfaidh Gaillimh cluiche maith dóibh, nach mbeidh mórán eatarthu ag an deireadh, ach go mbeidh muid fós ag moladh na gCat, agus taispeántas mór eile ó Henry rua agus Tommy beag!

 

* Tá na cluichí cáilithe ann tráthnóna inniu agus beidh siadsan suimiúil go leor.

Beidh Davy Fitz agus a chuid saighdiúirí réidh ullmhaithe do chuairt Anthony Daly go hInis.

Ní thig a rá go raibh ceachtar den bheirt sásta lena fhoireann sa chluiche deireanach a imríodh.

Thit Áth Cliath go trom roimh Chill Chainnigh – agus síleadh ag dul isteach sa chluiche go raibh seans iontach acu.  Seans anois acu taispeáint nach bhfuil gach rud chomh dona is a chonacthas an lá úd.

D’imir An Clár cluiche maith in éadan Phort Láirge, an fhoireann a raibh Davy i gceannas orthu anuraidh.

An deacracht is mó a bhí ag Davy ná gur imir An Clár i Roinn 1B den tsraith ag leibhéal níos ísle ná Port Láirge ná Áth Cliath agus tháinig an gné sin amach sna 10 mbomaite deireanacha.

Caithfidh Áth Cliath baint nó is cinnte go n-imeoidh Daly agus go mbeidh ar an duine úr roinnt blianta atógála a dheánamh.

Gríosóidh sé sin chun bua iad.

Ba iad Áth Cliath an scéal mór anuraidh, agus is iad Corcaigh faoi JBM scéal iomána na bliana 2012.

Bhain siad cluiche ceannais na sraithe amach – cé gur ghread Cill Chainnigh iad sa chluiche sin.  Agus throid siad go maith in éadan Thiobraid Árainn.

Tá siad sa bhaile in éadan Uí bhFáilí agus is buntáiste é sin fosta ag foireann atá óg go leor gan taithí.

Tá taithí ag Uí bhFáilí, ach tá siad teoranta fosta agus, mar a luaigh mé i gcomhthéasc An Chláir, d’imir siad i Roinn 1B i rith an earraigh.

Osclóidh Uí bhFáilí laigí ar bith atá acu, ach má imríonn Corcaigh mar a d’imir siad in éadan Thiobraid Árainn bainfidh siad.

 

Cluichí Peile :

Dé Domhnaigh

2pm Cluiche ceannais na Mumhan : Corcaigh v An Clár (Beo ar TV3)

Thig leis an chluiche seo bheith aontaobhach go leor.

Bhí an t-am ann (ní raibh sé i bhfad ó shin) nuair a thug Luimneach nó Tiobraid Árainn nó An Clár cluiche maith don bheirt mhór i gCúige na Mumhan.

Ach bíonn Corcaigh agus Ciarraí sa tóir ar Sam anois, agus is láidre ar fad iad ná freasúra ar bith a thig ón taobh eile.

D’imir An Clár i Roinn 4 den tsraith.  Bhain Corcaigh Roinn 1.  Tá go leor ráite agam.

 

Earnestly funny

I know, I know, I’ve left it to the last minute, but I really have to say how much I enjoyed The Importance of Being Earnest – still running at the Lyric Theatre – but only until Saturday.

Wilde’s play is as funny and relevant today as it was when it was first performed on St Valentine’s Day 1895.

“A trivial play for serious people” the Dublin playwright called his most popular and enduring play and with good reason. Audiences can either enjoy it as a romantic romp or look deeper at the stifling silliness of Victorian etiquette that Wilde was tearing asunder with wit and passion.

Ernest loves Gwendolyn. Cecily loves Ernest. What could possibly go wrong?

Double lives and double standards abound in this masterpiece of satirical wisdom where Jack and Algernon, two young men looking for escape from social obligations, pretend to be something that they are not… Earnest.

Niall Cusack, who plays a pair of butlers in this Graham McLaren production calls Earnest one of the

Niall Cusack (left) with Aaron McCusker in The Importance of Being Earnest

most perfect plays ever written.

“Well, it’s the most perfect play in English, perhaps. because of its format, characterisation, plot and dialogue not to mention the wit and energy and wit and irony that runs throughout the play,” says the Belfast-born actor who threw himself into acting when he first saw a play at the old, old Lyric Theatre in Derryvolgie Avenue.

Earnest was the highlight of Wilde’s career, a play that is regularly preformed al over the world, which  has been made into films and, because it takes a scalpel to the absurd silliness of life, it still speaks to us today.

And although, the play is quintessentially English, it had to be written by an Irishman!

“One of the most noticeable things about the best known English comedies is that they are all written by Anglo-Irishmen –  Sheridan, Congreve, Goldsmith, Wilde, Shaw – the English can’t do it  themselves,” says Niall, smiling.

And the mostly Irish cast were more than capable of doing justice to Oscar and Earnest with men in women’s roles – Richard Orr as Miss Prism and Paddy Scully in the juiciest of roles, Lady Bracknell.

Aaron McCusker, from Portadown, (aka Jamie in Shameless) has taken on the extreme opposite role as the very posh Algernon and he does it with aplomb (not a word you would hear on Shameless!) as does Patrick Moy, from Dublin, who plays Jack (Ernest). Paddy Jenkins is from Belfast.

Ailish Symons who plays Cecily is from Cork while Melody Grove, from Sussex is the only English member of the cast, playing the part of Gwendolen,

(As well as the Irish actors, a young man from Derry, Robin Peoples, designed the play’s extravagant costumes, which where all made in Belfast.)

The production splendidly recreates high society’s circus tightrope that people had to negotiate with a balancing bar of etiquette, rules and manners to save them from falling into the abyss of social disgrace with Algernon as ringmaster.

It really is a laugh a minute but the play really sparkles towards the end of Act Two when Cecily and Gwendolen change from bosom buddies to mortal enemies.

A great show – but it ends this Saturday. The Lyric Box Office is 9038 1081.

 

 

Digital Derry

While all eyes are on 2013, there is much going on in Derry in the lead up to City of Culture year.

One of the most exciting events, in my humble opinion, is Culture Tech,  a four-day celebration of digital technology, media and music which will run in the Maiden City betwen  August 29th and September 1st.

The quality of Culture Tech  can be judged by the cailbre of people who will be delivering keynote speeches at the event.

Take Sir Nicholas Kenyon, for example.

Sir Nicholas Kenyon

In 2007, Kenyon became Managing Director of the Barbican Centre in London, the largest performing arts venue in Europe.

He was a music critic for The New Yorker, The Times and Observer, and editor of Early Music 1983-92. He was appointed Controller of BBC Radio 3 in 1992 and he oversaw the BBC’s programming for the Millennium and then ran the BBC’s Live Events and TV Classical Music departments. He was Director of the BBC Proms from 1996 to 2007.

NIcholas Kenyon has continued to write and lecture on the arts, publishing books on Bach, Mozart, Simon Rattle, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and early music.

Phew!

Add to that Kath Mainland, CEO of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival; Europe’s largest performance venue Ben Hammerlsey, Editor-at-Large at Wired magazine and No 10’s Ambassador to Tech City; Mike Butcher, editor of the highly influential TechCrunch Europe website and you’ll get an idea of the pulling power Digital Derry has.

However, these are just the more notable figures in an event which will also feature over 50 industry speakers, yet it is more than just beautifully coiffured and moisturised talking heads. There will also be film screenings, digital arts installations, a games tournament and an extensive music lineup.

One of the most intriguing acts to me will be a collaboration between Gráinne Holland and

Gráinne Holland

electronic producer, Figure of 8 involving an “audiovisual set which will be accompanied by surreal visuals and a live string quartet, courtesy of Serendipity Strings.”

As festival organiser, Mark Nagurski, explained: “Culture Tech is one part conference, one part music festival and one part family-friendly carnival, all designed to celebrate digital culture. We have announced over 50 speakers across TV, music, gaming and digital arts and we’re expecting well over 500 industry delegates and 10,000 members of the public to take part in activities and events across the city.”

“We are thrilled to have so many high-profile speakers and industry experts involved in the event already and we’ll soon be finalising our music line-up, including dozens of acts and a free, public concert which will take place on the last day of the festival. In other words it’s going to be fantastically exciting.”

Martin Adair from Invest Northern Ireland, who are co-sponsoring the event, rightly said the creative industries are hugely important to the Northern Ireland economy.

“We have truly world-class companies here across everything from TV to games and animation to music. The Culture Tech festival is a really accessible way of both showcasing those companies and inviting the public, particularly young people, to get involved,” he said.

Festival tickets are on sale now via the Culture Tech website at www.culturetech.co, priced at £49 with student tickets available for £29. Individual music event tickets go on sale July 9th so watch this space.

You can see the full line-up at culturetech.co (and yes, that’s the full address!)

Slí níos Fearr

I got the following invite this morning. It’s not quite an Irish Spring but who knows where it might lead …

At 11:00am precisely, on the 10th July at the Davenport Hotel, Central Dublin – a little bit of Irish History will be made – be there!

It’s not everyday of the week that our career politicians stare into their cornflakes and realise that as of ‘this day’ they no longer have the playground entirely to themselves. And after decades of miss-management and self-serving, surely they must be aware that the circus has to end at somepoint.

Sli Nios Fearr, (a better way) is Ireland’s refershingly new political intiative. And it’s announcing yet a further step down the track in the formation of a new political party. It’s inviting all Irish media to a press conference to highlight that we are certainly on the march to the Dail and entirely focued now for the long haul.

During May, Martin Critten walked the 123 miles from Limerick to Dublin on a challenge to find people willing to start a new political movement. What is unvailed on the 10th is the result of that challenge. What’s more, Sli Nios Fearr will be making a direct appeal for all Irish citizens on the 10th to engage and become pro-active with this new intiative.

To qualify our commitment further still, another challenge is being laid before the Irish population; one which it’s hoped would make a huge difference to those 430,000 people currently ‘stuck’ on the live register. The rest you can find out by being there whilst ‘news’ is being made – don’t leave it to Sky to be breaking ground for Ireland!

Best Regards – Martin Critten
Spokesperson for Sli Nios fearr

www.sli-nios-fearr.com

email: martinc@sli-nios-fearr.com

Séamus Ó Néill Summer School

From Emer O’Hagan:

The Séamus O’Neill Summer School promises something for everyone this weekend in Castlewellan. It will be launched at 2.30pm tomorrow (8 June, 2012) in The Lodge by Louise McCreesh, presenter for BBC Radio Ulster’s Blas programme.

A family orientated line-up will follow as the Armagh Rhymers, one of Northern Ireland’s most celebrated folk theatre ensembles, will take to the stage with their unique interactive blend of music, drama, song and dance.

Children from Bunscoil Bheanna Boirce and St Mary’s Primary School, Glasdrumman will then present a selection of poems which Séamus O’Neill wrote children in 1949.

The Summer School will include a number of interesting talks that have a great relevance to our locality; Dr Nicholas Mac Cathmhaoil will discuss hand written manuscripts produced locally in his talk, ‘The Literary Heritage of Co Down up to the 1800s’.

Dr Des McCabe will introduce the life and works of Séamus O’Neill and he will highlight how south Down impacted on his creativity. An exhibition in Castlewellan Library will also present O’Neill’s connections to this area and his works.

For those with a specific interest in Irish literature; Aodán Mac Poilín, Director of The Ultach Trust, will describe the environment of west Belfast in the early 20th century which nurtured O’Neill’s interest in the Irish language when his family moved there from Castlewellan in 1917. The pioneering and acclaimed writer, Séamus Mac Annaidh, will discuss his own literary works on Saturday morning.

A selection of panels and workshops will support those interested in Irish language writing as either a career or simply a past-time. The panels include experts in each of the following areas;

Writing for journalism: Robert McMillen (Irish News) and Eoghan Ó Néill (Nuacht 24 and Gaelscéal);

Writing for TV and sreenplays: Antaine Ó Donnaile (BBC) and Damian Mc Cann (Tobar Productions); and

Creative writing: Ray Mac Manais (author).

If you are simply looking for a good night out the Summer School concert on Friday night is for you;

Doimnic Mac Giolla Bhríde

commencing with a wine reception, our local Irish language Choir (Cór Uachtar Tíre) will join with the Belfast Choir (Cór Loch Lao) and the Gweedore Choir (Cór Thaobh a’ Leithid) to perform with Doimnic Mac Giolla Bhríde, the award winning singer from the Donegal Gealtacht. Doiminc will also perform from his recent eclectic album, ‘Smúidghleach’ which combines traditional Irish songs with a classic twist as he sings with a string quartet and a clarinet.

The whole Summer School will conclude with a delicious 3-course meal in Hillyard House commencing at 7.30pm on Saturday night. In addition, Hillyard House are offering a Summer School Special for people staying on Saturday 9th attending the events.

Please note that the Summer School will be run through Irish but simultaneous translation will be provided for all the lectures, ensuring that it will be a thoroughly accessible event for all.

 

The Gloaming + Sam Amidon

The omens were good for the Gloaming concert in Vicar Street last night – no need for a raincoat in the mid-afternnoon sun as Dublin was a-buzzing in the warm spring weather, the trip to Forever 21 was painless – I had my teenage daughter with me, – and then we had a great meal at the Thai Orchid (spicy Prawn soup recommended), followed by a nice walk to Vicar Street for the gig I had been anticipating since seeing them pulverize the Mandela Hall in Belfast last August.

Before that was the small matter of Vermont’s Mr Sam Amidon.

I’d heard lots of positive reports about the young American and it’s such a wonderful feeling when all the hype you’ve heard turns out to be justified.

Sam, has a great stage presence but hey, we wanted to hear some music and what we got were songs full of charm, wit, mystery and beauty.

In the introduction to the great I See the Sign, he suggests that actress Kursten Dunst, because of the fixed facial features she has shown in her last couple of films, knows something about the future that we don’t.

“This song tries to address that,” he says before launching into a song with a voice alternatively as gravelly as a match being struck or as soft as silk pyjamas.

Like The Gloaming with tunes and Iarla Ó Lionáird with songs and poems, Sam likes to take material from any number of esoteric sources, take them apart and reassemble them in different guises until he come up with a creative re-imagining and a recreation of the original. Here endeth the theory.

In practice, Amidon’s repertoire totally won over the Vicar Street audience. During the Kate McGarrigle song Talk to Me of Mendocino, the audience were were looking at him the way a mother looks at her newborn child. Aaah!

This was followed by a wonderfully left-field version of The Streets of Derry “from the singing of Andy Irvine” and other highlights included Sam mocking himself as a “mediocre jazz guitarist” while doing a George Benson This Masquerade sort of affair and some pretty wierd hand dancing.

Helping Amidon throughout was his longtime buddy Thomas Bartlett aka Dovemen on piano, percussion and whatever you’re having yourself.

Thomas is of course also a member of The Gloaming and after the break where he went into a telephone box and spun around for a while, he came out with Martin Hayes, Dennis Cahill, Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh and Iarla Ó Lionáird, a stunning line-up of musicians (and a singer) who have the intelligence and the skill and the understanding and the dúchas to produce superlative music – without losing their sense of humour.

I think they do things back to front. They begin with their masterpiece which consists of Iarla kickstarting the performance with the song, An Cúíl daigh-réidh before the band come in with a tune called Captain Kelly’s followed by a lullaby Martin learned from his father, then Paddy Cronin’s Reel followed by Rolling In the Barrel, the Tap Room and finally Tom Doherty’s Reel, with a virtuoso section by Thomas Bartlett thrown somewhere into the mix.

When it’s 20-plus minutes of virtuosity were over, the audience went understandably wild in appreciation. (The applause in Belfast almost lasted as long as the music!)

The fireworks gave way to the reflective as Iarla sang Thugamar Fein an Samhradh Linn (Samhradh, Samhradh) before we had more fabulous tunes.

I am, more likely than not, the first (and last) person to compare the Gloaming to a laxative. Take one dose and you purge yourself of Jedward and Pat Kenny and Ryan Tubridy and Tallaghfornia and Enda and Eamon and the troika and the M5 and you find yourself in a comfortable place called home.

It’s not a place Louis Walsh would touch with a barge-pole but Martin Hayes described it beautifully, saying the more he plays, the better it gets.

“After all this time playing, the better it gets in terms of how good I think the tunes are,” he said. He quoted Joe Cooley who said the music (Irish traditional music) was the only thing that brings people to their senses.

“It speaks of a kind of a commonsense rootedness or earthiness in many ways and also it occupies a lovely place between simplicity and complexity.

“The tunes have lovely old structures inherent in them, a kind of call and response and I’m often amazed at the incredible tune-writing that must have gone on over the generations by simple old fiddle players in their cottages, sculpting these beautiful pieces of music that we get to play.”

He then sallied forth into the Sailor’s Bonnet as an example, letting it shine through the prism of his playing before O Raghallaigh’s throaty Hardanger, Cahill’s subtle accompaniment, Bartlett’s fireworks and even Iarla on the bodhrán jumped on board.

There’s that moment in traditional music when a set of tunes changes key or tempo and such is the psychological effect on an audience that it swoops them up, forcing out of them a primal roar that no doubt goes back to pre-history and we witnessed a few of those at Saturday night’s concert in a great venue, Vicar Street.

The gig finished with a couple of encores with Oro Sé do Bheatha Bhaile bringing the glorious finale. If only there was a pharmaceutical company who could bottle the Gloaming …

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