Folk That: Leaving Its Roots Behind

Over the past couple of years, Sligo Live has evolved from a ‘rhythm and roots’ event into a multi-headed monster of a festival. Certainly this year’s jamboree, running Thursday 21 to Monday 25 October, throws up a few acts who would have been considered unlikely choices not long ago.
It’s hard to imagine The Stranglers, for example, or RSAG being given house room in the first couple of years of the festival’s existence. However, with Imelda May headlining one of the nights in 2009 there is obviously a concerted effort to ‘skew’ the event, turning it into something with the genre blurring capacity of a Glastonbury or a Great Escape, albeit in an urban setting. Grasping the reality that the recession is really only over for the people who never felt it in the first place a healthy proportion of the events are free and no individual gig weighs in at over €30. A weekend ticket that will get you into everything is a very wallet-friendly €75.
Main Stage sessions kick off Friday evening with a gig in Calry Church by The Duke and The King, featuring Simon Felice (of the Felice Brothers) and Robert Bird Burke, with Simi Stone and Reverend Loveday. They will be joined on the night by Sligo band Slim Pickins. Over at the Radisson Blu, ‘70s punk legends The Stranglers will be taking to the stage.
On Saturday October 23, the scope of the festival starts to become apparent as RSAG headlines McGarrigles while Mary Chapin Carpenter, joined by special guest Tift Merritt, performs at the festival’s spiritual home, the Radisson. That’s sure to be an interesting evening as both women have a talent for weaving songs from stories, and although Mary Chapin Carpenter has been visiting Ireland on and off for many years now, Merritt is still enough of a rarity here to make the trip to Sligo worthwhile. For the unhungover amongst the festival goers the morning of Saturday 23 offers the chance to catch the Junior Fiddler of Dooney Competition at 11am at the Methodist Hall.
With Sligo champions Dervish celebrating 21 years together it’s only fitting that they are to headline the Radisson Blu on the evening of Sunday October 24. They’ll be joined as has become their custom in recent years by some friends with whom they’ve shared stages, among them Moya Brennan and her regular collaborator Cormac de Barra, Kevin Burke, Triona Ni Dhomhnaill and dancer Nathan Pilatzke.
Earlier in the day Sligo Live Sessions is again joining with CCE Sligo Town Branch to host the Fiddler of Dooney competition. The event, inaugurated in 1965, is one of the oldest and most prestigious in Irish trad and is inspired by the W.B. Yeats poem of the same name.
The roll of previous winners reads like a who’s who of traditional fiddling and includes Matt Cranitch, Cathal Hayden, Brid Harper, Liz Kane, Paddy Glackin, Seamus and Manus McGuire.
Surprisingly, since Sligo Live Sessions joined with CCE to host the competition, all the winners have been women. Tara Breen in 2006, Laura Beegan in 2007, Bronwyn Power in 2008 and, last year, Aoife Ní Bhrion. Entries are expected from all over the country and from traditional musicians based overseas. Who knows – perhaps a male fiddler could even break the sequence this year? If you fancy a crack at the title yourself, application forms can be downloaded off of the Sligo Live website.
Away from the main stages there are some interesting gems tucked away at the Model where, on the Friday night, the Alan Kelly Quartet is joined by Eddi Reader, wth Crooked Still also putting in an appearance on the same bill. The following evening sees Lloyd Cole and his Small Ensemble joined by the Lost Brothers.
Elsewhere you’ll find yourself hard pressed to choose between Republic of Loose, Jerry Fish and the Mudbug Club and Tucan at the Clarence, while on Friday 23 there’s an innovative late night ceili-off betwen the Dartry Ceili Band and the Innisfree Ceili Band at the award winning Velvet Room night club. What makes this unique event even more special is that they are both winners of the coveted Senior Céilí Band Competition, the most coveted title in the All Ireland Fleadh, which shows the strength of traditional music in Sligo. North Connacht have now won this competition two years in a row. Imagine hearing ‘Trim The Velvet’ in the Velvet Rooms!
Added to that there are well in excess of 30 free cafe sessions featuring acts as diverse as Colenso Parade, Bairbre Munnis, Mo McMorrow and Kitty & The Can Openers in addition to 25 free pub sessions featuring an array of the country’s brightest traditional talent including various members of Dervish, Donogh Hennessy, Tola Custy and a host of others to choose from. You get the picture.