19th April in Wynne's

It might have been called "A feast of forty songs" in Wynne's last Saturday night. If you like singing and talking about songs, that was the place to be.

The regular attendees kept up their usual high standards. Highlights included, Laurel Hill :
When war had oppressed every nation with horror
And Wellington ventured his life o'er the main
and Bogie's Bonnie Belle :
Now Bogie had a dochter, her name was Isabelle
She was the lily o' the valley an' the primrose o' the dell
Dick Gaughan is a singer who has recorded that last song, incidentally, and he's on tour in Ireland at the moment, with gigs in Monaghan on Thurs 24th April, Barrys in Grange on Friday 25th April and Matt Molloy's in Westport on Saturday the 26th.

Singing - 2nd May - Kiltyclogher, Co. Leitrim

Four Gaelic singers from the Outer Hebrides will be singing in Kiltyclogher on Friday, 2nd May. Julie Fowlis, Mairi Smith, Anna Murray, Meave Mackinnon.

Singing - Louisburgh, Co. Mayo - 2-5 May 2008

Beidh Féile Chois Cuain ar siúl i gCluain Chearbán, Co. Mhaigh Eo (Louisburgh, Co. Mayo) an deireadh seachtaine fada, Bealtaine, 2-5, 2008.

The singing part of the Féile Chois Cuain programme:

Saturday 3rd May / Dé Sathairn 3 Bealtaine:

10.30am - 4.00pm: Masterclasses - Máistir-ranganna
Ballads: Len Graham

Sean-nós: Máirtín Tom Sheáinín

Táille/Admission euro 10.00
Venue: Sancta Maria College

4.15pm - 6.00pm: Seisiún Amhránaíochta Sean-Nóis le scoth na n-amhránaithe ar an sean-nós.
Aíonna: Éamon Ó Bróithe, Áine Uí Cheallaigh, Meaití Jó Shéamuis Ó Fátharta, Johnny Mháirtín Learaí Mac Donnchadha, Sarah Grealish, Máirtín Chóil Neaine Pháidín Mac Donnchadha, Micheál Ó Confhaola, Áine Ní Dhroighneáin, Tomás Ó Máille, Gearóidín Breathnach & Nollaig NicAindriú. Fear a' Tí: Máirtín Tom Sheáinín
Adm euro 3.00.
Venue Old Convent, Westport Road.

Sean Nós Cois Life, Dublin, Thurs 17 - Sunday 20 April 2008

If you're interested in Sean Nós, there's a four-day singing festival in Dublin coming up, 17th-20th April 2008. There are singing and dancing workshops, (Táille: €20/€10) and informal sessions of music, singing, dance and poetry. This small festival comes highly recommended. More information here or contact Antaine directly for workshop registration ('phone number below).

Déardaoin: 9.00pm : Seisiún, Club Chonradh na Gaeilge, 6 Sráid Fhearchair(Harcourt St.), BÁC 2

Dé hAoine: 9.00pm : Seisiún sa Ghóilín, Club na Múinteoirí, 36 Cearnóg Pharnell, BÁC1

Dé Sathairn: 10am-4.30pm : Ceardlanna amhránaíochta agus damhsa. Áras na bPíobairí Uilleann, 15 Sráid Henrietta, BÁC 1
Oíche mhór amhránaíochta, ceoil & damhsa : Club na Múinteoirí, 36 Cearnóg Pharnell, BÁC 1

Dé Domhnaigh : 2.30pm Seisiún amhránaíochta, ceoil & damhsa : Tigh Hughes, Sráid na Seansaireachta,(Chancery St.), BÁC 1

Ceardlanna amhránaíochta (Singing workshops - tutors):
Áine Meenaghan (Nean Chamuis, Conamara/Chicago); Donnie Murdo Mc Leod (Albain); Seosaimhín Ní Bheaglaoich (Ciarraí)
Ceardlann damhsa ar an sean-nós (dancing workshop): Máire Áine Ní Iarnáin

Contact and/or register:
Antaine Ó Faracháin, 01 453 8192

Sligo Traditional Singers' Circle - October 2008 festival planned

Check under Festival on the Sligo Traditional Singers' new Website for details of the Sligo Traditional Singing Weekend, already well into the planning stage,to be held at Rosses Point, Co. Sligo, on October 3-5th 2008.

Saturday, 15th March - The Brown and the Yellow Ale

Many a song sung, from Skibbereen to Bogie's Bonnie Belle by way of Aughoo and Ballisodare.

This one too, sung by another Dubliner ...

Saturday 16th Feb.: "Then he pulled out his pen knife, it was both long and sharp..."

There was plenty of murder, manslaughter and mayhem, in a laid back kind of a way, at the Boyle Singers' Circle on Saturday 16th Feb. It started on the Banks of Red Roses, 'where Johnny all the day had been digging up a grave' (and sharpening his penknife seemingly), through 'Molly Bawn' who died, killed mistaken for a swan, past a few more to get to a grand rendition of Tim Lyons' “The grisly murder of John Frawley”. That corpse was added to the body count by a member of the Sligo contingent.

This song wasn't the only recently composed one of the night either, as two talented Boyle singers sang songs they wrote themselves. Strokestown, meanwhile, was well represented by the “young fellow who loved rural sport” (and singing) and recitations of Robert Service poems.

The Sligo Traditional Singers’ Circle added a few broken hearts to the mix, with an unusual version of How could I live at the top of the mountain and the sad tale of Molly Branigan’s rejected lover,

O, ma'm dear, did you ne'er hear of purty Molly Branigan,
In troth, ma'am, she's left me, and I'll never be a man again;
Not a spot on my hide shall another summer tan again,
Since Molly has left me all alone for to die.

Peggy Gordon and (When I first said I loved only you) Nora were there, along with Sadhbh Ní Bhruinneala, An Gandal agus amhráin eile as Gaeilge which named almost everyone and their townlands from down around Waterford direction.

There were many more, and to hear the like again… be at the Boyle Singers’ Circle next month, Saturday, 15th March