Live - or let die

A few months back, things were looking great for trad bands around Dublin, with new venues like the Green Room at the Holiday Inn and the Purty Sessions at the Purty Loft cropping up to join old stalwarts like Mother Redcap’s and the Cobblestone. Now Donal McGuirk has left the Holiday Inn and they’re not taking band bookings at present; nor is the Purty (due to a forthcoming closure for renovations, apparently); and the O’Reilly Theatre has decided that it will now only do one gig a month. Meanwhile, I’ve just been told that Paul Thomas has pulled his PA out of the Cobblestone and resigned as its booking agent, and Buzz O’Neill has left The Star ... and all in the last three or four weeks. Worst of all is the news that Mother Redcap’s is to come under the developers’ chop. Paul Lee, who used to host gigs at the Cobblestone before moving on to MR’s, writes that he’s now looking for a new home – so “if any venue wants musiclee to start running gigs, I’m up for it.” Is there something in the air?
If you’ve picked up this magazine early, you might still have time to dash up North to catch the last few days of the 18th annual Fiddler’s Green Music and Arts Festival, set to continue through the 1st of August. The festival’s 2004 Hall of Fame Award recipient is Paddy Moloney of The Chieftains, who’ll be joined onstage by fellow Chieftain Kevin Conneff and Rostrevor’s own Sands Family. Featuring in the main concerts of the week are Micheál Ó Suilleabhain, Finbarr Furey, Nollaig Casey & Arty McGlynn, Dervish, Four Men And A Dog and newcomer Denise Hagan, to name a few. Free entertainment on the open-air stage includes, from Thursday to Sunday, what’s billed as ‘the biggest crossroads céilí in the land’. For more information, visit .
From August 11 to 15, some of Ireland’s greatest musicians will converge on Bantry House for the Masters of Tradition Festival. Fiddler Martin Hayes, Artistic Director of the festival, and guitarist Dennis Cahill will be joined by Frank Harte & Donal Lunny, Steve Cooney, Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and Dermot Byrne of Altan, Emer Mayock, and Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh with Mick O’Brien and Tony MacMahon. There will also be late-night sessions hosted by Cooney, Mayock and Christy Moore, as well as fiddle, flute, accordion, tin whistle and singing workshops. After last year’s inaugural Masters of Tradition Festival, Moore remarked that “it was heartening to hear the music in an atmosphere like this.” To book tickets, ring (027) 52788 or visit .
Make a note in your diary to tune into TG4 at 9pm on Sunday, August 15, when the station will broadcast a half-hour documentary filmed at last year’s Milwaukee Irish Fest. Entitled Ag Ceiliúradh na nGael, the documentary was filmed and produced by Martina Goggin of the group Dordán, and is presented by Joe Mac Donncha, chief executive of Fóras na Gaeilge. Among the musicians featured are Altan, Tommy Peoples, La Bottine Souriante, Liz Carroll & John Doyle, Charlie Piggott and the dancers from the Trinity Academy of Irish Dance. Held each year in mid-August in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the four-day event features gigs on 15 stages plus a specially erected ‘Campa na Gaeltachta’, and attracts over 130,000 punters annually.
Almost 200 people turned up for the launch of the debut CD by Gavin Moore, the latest scion of the Moore clan to join the recording fraternity. Featuring guest appearances by his uncles Christy Moore and Luka Bloom, Until Today was given a fine send-off at a reception and gig in The Blue Angel, Cork Opera House, on July 2. The Clonakilty-based singer/songwriter was joined onstage by gifted Liverpudlian guitarist Matt Churchill, Duncan Lutz on bass guitar, George Harte on double bass and Anto on drums. Doing the honours for the official launch was John Spillane, who spoke of hearing Gavin for the first time when the latter was only 17. Said Spillane, “I recall a shy, sensitive soul taking to the stage and when he sang, I heard the most beautiful voice. Gavin is simply a brilliant singer and I’m sure he is going to be famous and successful for his singing and his songwriting in the very near future.” Amongst those in attendance was Chris Ahern of Stargazers fame, who was also Head of Music at Coláiste Stíofán Naofa, Cork, where Gavin studied performance and songwriting. Until Today is available at all good record shops, distributed by Record Services.
Sad news from New York about the passing of the great fiddler Andy McGann on July 13, at the age of 75. I remember seeing him play alongside Paddy Reynolds at a festival in the States many years ago and being fairly bowled over. As his fellow fiddler Brian Conway writes: “Andy had been ill for a while but, for those fortunate to have had a chance to see him one last time over the last week or so, he was the same gracious gentleman we all knew and loved.... There are, of course, no words to adequately describe this loss. Andy was the fiddler’s fiddle player.”
Bernie Ní Mhuircheartaigh, who represents FACÉ (Filí, Amhránaithe agus Ceoltóirí na hÉireann) on the committee of the Traditional Branch of the Musicians Union of Ireland (MUI), has sent out an appeal for traditional musicians to join up. The MUI has been in existence for just over a year now and has a membership of 230 – but only 40 of these are in the traditional music section. “What we have,” she writes, “is a Catch-22 situation unfolding: people don’t want to join because they can’t see how they will immediately benefit, yet numbers are needed to reach a critical mass in order for certain issues to be resolved.” If you have any questions that you wish to put to the MUI Trad Branch Committee, e-mail or .
The release of Mary McPartlan’s latest single, a cover of Shane McGowan’s ‘Rainy Night In Soho’, coincided with the launch of her new website and her recent appearance at the Galway Arts Festival, where she was accompanied by a hugely talented bunch of musicians who took part on the recording of her debut album The Holland Handkerchief. The line-up included Seamie O’Dowd, Liam Kelly and Tom Morrow (all of them members of Dervish), Eddie Lynch, Danny Byrt and special guest Máirtín O’Connor. The Holland Handkerchief has been warmly welcomed by critics (including this one) and public alike, and is distributed by RMG in Ireland and Proper in the UK. Now it’ll also be available online though the new site. Mary is currently preparing an extensive winter tour for later on this year.

Musicians and singers with news to share can e-mail Sarah at [email protected]