We were delighted to welcome the Kilfenora Céilí Band to our festival weekend.

After 105 years in the business, the world-renowned Kilfenora Céilí Band are seen by many aficionados as the quintessential Irish céilí band. Their core repertoire of dance music, punctuated with an incomparable lift and rhythm, defines an unbroken tradition that dates from the beginning of the twentieth century. Despite this link with the past, their recent recordings and concert performances point to a broadening of the perceived boundaries of their genre. Collaborations with a diverse range of song and dance artists, experimentation with repertoire outside of the dance domain and complex harmonic arrangements speak to an ensemble who are pioneering new and exciting performance contexts for the céilí band genre.

While acknowledging and incorporating the past, the Kilfenora thrives on creativity and innovation.
www.kilfenoraceiliband.com

The Kilfenora Céilí Band performed at Skerries Community Centre on 20th May 2017 and 19th May 2018.

Sponsored by Moriarty Group

Born in London, fiddle and banjo player John Carty has established himself among the elite in Irish traditional music and as a staunch supporter of its preservation. Carty developed his love for fiddle, banjo, and flute, all of which he has mastered, through his multi-instrumentalist father who was a member of the Glenside Ceili Band in London in the 1960’s.

Soon after settling in Boyle, Co Roscommon, Carty released his 1994 debut banjo album, The Cat that Ate the Candle to positive reviews. This led to his first fiddle album, Last Night's Fun, released on Shanachie Records in 1996 and was closely followed by two further solo fiddle albums Yeh, That's All It Is and At It Again. These albums have been described as a milestones in recorded fiddle music. In 1997 he formed At the Racket, a fun, loose, free-spirited dance band named after an old Flanagan Brothers 78 rpm. The group has recorded three highly acclaimed CDs all on John’s own label Racket Records and continues to tour all the major European festivals.

2005 saw the launch of I Will If I Can Carty’s latest solo CD featuring banjo and tenor guitar. Accompanied by Alec Finn, Brian McGrath and Johnny McDonagh, Carty once again shows his plectrum prowess to full affect.

John performs regularly with Chieftain’s flutist Matt Molloy exploring the North Connaught tradition they both love. In 2008 they released Pathway to the Well a CD of their music accompanied by Arty McGlynn and recently released a follow up Out of the Ashes.

In 2011 John released The Crimson Path, collaboration with Sligo poet Ann Joyce, which is a CD of original poetry and music for which John composed all the music. This was quickly followed by the release of At Complete Ease, a duet fiddle album with Brian Rooney from Kiltclogher, Co Leitrim. This CD has already been described as one of the all times greats of duet playing. John is also a member of super group, Patrick Street which includes legendary musicians Andy Irvine and Kevin Burke. He has also appeared as a special guest with the Chieftains and De Danaan.

John has recently put together a new eight-piece band, The John Carty Festival band which was launched in summer 2012 and has since played at festivals in Ireland and the UK. In 2012/13 John was part of the County Leitrim Traditional group in residency scheme which comprises of himself and two other legends of traditional music namely Seamus Begley on accordion and vocals, and Donál Lunny on bouzouki and guitar. In 2013 they launched the album, Leitrim Equation 3, which includes many Leitrim guests they met during the residency.

More recently John has performed in two feature films Jimmy’s Hall and Brooklyn, for which he also arranged all the traditional music pieces. His latest CD release is a duet album with his daughter Maggie showcasing her unique singing voice and introducing another generation to the tradition. In addition, John is a tutor on the BA course at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance in Limerick and with such experience is a highly sought tutor for workshops and summer schools.

John Carty and Shane McGowan (fiddle and guitar) were playing in the Rockabill Restaurant on Saturday 20th May at 8pm

MÁIRE O’KEEFFE

Máire O’Keeffe is a fiddle player, originally from Tralee, Co. Kerry but now living in Kinvara, Co. Galway. She learned to play the fiddle from Castleisland musician, Nicky McAuliffe and her many influences include the fiddle traditions of her native Kerry as well as the fiddling of Donegal and Clare musicians.

She has long had an avid interest in the fiddle music of Scotland, Shetland and particularly the fiddle and piano based traditions of Cape Breton Island in Canada where she was artist in residence at the internationally renowned Celtic Colours Festival in 2009. Máire has given fiddle workshops all over the world including a nine month stint during the early 1990s as a visiting Irish Traditional Music teacher in Australia.

For many years she was a fiddle tutor at the Willie Clancy Summer School and for the past number of years she has presented a much sought after “performance class” at the school where students are afforded an opportunity to listen to and interact with some of the legendary fiddle players in Irish traditional music.

In Oct 2010, Máire was awarded a Ph.D. at the University of Limerick for a study entitled,“Journey into Tradition: A Social History of the Irish Button Accordion”.

NICHOLAS CAROLAN

Founding Director of ITMA (The Irish Traditional Music Archive) which was established in 1987. Under his direction, ITMA has become Ireland’s principal archive and resource organisation for Irish traditional music, song and dance. ITMA is widely recognised as a leading and innovative expert organisation that plays an important role in the development of Ireland’s cultural and digital infrastructure. Above all, ITMA is a valued and respected resource for the community of traditional performers, audiences, researchers, broadcasters, academics and the general public. Under Nicholas Carolan’s direction, and through the success of the television series Come West along the Road (RTÉ) and Siar an Bóthar (TG4) which he has researched and presented since 1994, ITMA has been established as the largest repository in existence of the materials of Irish traditional music, song and dance. ITMA’s collections are unequalled anywhere in the world, and its catalogue and a large collection of digitised materials are now freely accessible online at www.itma.ie. Nicholas Carolan is due to retire in mid-2015, and the Board looks forward to continuing its relationship with him in the years ahead.

For further information of ITMA visit: www.itma.ie

Máire O'Keeffe was joined by Special Guest Nicholas Carolan at Skerries Mills on Saturday 20th May at 7pm.

No Irish traditional band in the last dozen years has had a wider impact on audiences and music lovers throughout the world than Altan.

With their exquisitely produced award-winning recordings, ranging dynamically from the most sensitive and touching old Irish songs all the way to hard hitting reels and jigs, and with their heartwarming, dynamic live performances, Altan have moved audiences from Donegal to Tokyo to Seattle. Throughout, there has been the unwavering commitment of the band to bringing the beauty of traditional music, particularly that of the Donegal fiddlers and singers, to contemporary audiences in a way that brings out all its qualities and destroys none. In fact, Altan have always believed that Irish traditional music is a modern music in every sense and its growing influence and popularity have proved them right.

The seeds of the band lie in the music and fun of gatherings and sessions in kitchens and pubs in Donegal where virtuoso music was heard in an atmosphere of respect and intimacy - it is here that the band's heart lies still whether they are performing on tv in Australia or jamming with Ricky Skaggs on the west coast of the United States.
And if those were the seeds, the actual kernel of the band was the music and personality of band founders, Belfast flute-player, Frankie Kennedy, and Gweedore singer and fiddler, Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh. As soon as anyone met them and heard their unique music in the early eighties, whether in a large noisy festival session or in the little traditional clubs of Dublin and Belfast, it was immediately apparent there was a rare power at work. They seemed to be playing their own repertoire, in fact, a combination of old Donegal fiddle music (then little known outside Donegal) and of unusual Northern flute tunes, they delivered it with a force and fullness that made it hard to believe there were only two people playing, and that combined with Frankie's immense wit and playfulness and Mairéad's beauty and down-to-earth charm made an irresistible package. It quickly became clear to them and others that they could go places.

Gradually the duo grew organically into a band in the mid-eighties, forged in the bustle and crack of a thousand late-night sessions and festivals throughout Ireland - the repertoire gave Altan (the name was taken from a deep and mysterious lake behind Errigal Mountain in Donegal) a totally unique stamp, while there was an undoubted inspiration from the great Irish bands such as the Bothy Band, Planxty and De Danann.
Altan's commitment to good-natured fun was second only to their commitment to excellence in all things musical, and so the band members who were gathered in were top-notch. Altan has always been a virtuoso band. Earliest was bouzouki-player, Ciarán Curran from Co. Fermanagh, a session and festival veteran, nephew of fiddler, Ned Curran, and close friend of fiddler, Ben Lennon, and flute-player, Cathal MacConnell (of the Boys of the Lough). Like all accompanists of the time, Ciarán had invented his own style on the instrument, and his playing lies at the heart of the Altan sound, though like all great accompanists, the very perfection of what he does makes it difficult for the casual listener to notice!
With the inclusion of guitarist Mark Kelly in the mid-eighties Altan truly became a band. Though all band members have always had a deep knowledge and love of other music, as well as Irish, ranging from rock, blues, jazz and country to classical, Mark, more than the others, had actually played other styles, and from the start he showed a gift for tastefully bringing fresh rhythms and chordings to the band arrangements. Mark and Ciarán were heard on the '87 album Altan, which, though not officially a band album, inaugurates the band's studio sound.
But it was live work in '84 -'85 that marked the turning-point for Frankie and Mairéad, encouraging them to give up their teaching jobs and go professional. Particularly influential were short trips to the United States in those years when they played concerts in New York, Minnesota, Madison, Portland and Seattle with Derry guitarist, Dáithí Sproule, a Minnesota resident and like Ciaran and Mark, an old friend. Dáithí had played a big part in an earlier wave of development in the music, being one of the very first people to adapt the guitar to old Gaelic songs (many of which he learnt in the Gaeltacht of Rannafast, just a few miles from Mairéad's home in Gweedore). These US concerts played in clubs and sometimes in noisy Irish pubs, where people were expecting a very different sort of music, convinced Frankie and Mairéad that no-compromise traditional music played with heart and drive could win over any audience anywhere.
In succeeding years, the band recorded albums for Green Linnet, all of which won accolades and awards and appeared in the Billboard charts - their collaborators on these albums were of the highest calibre and it shows: Donál Lunny, Brian Masterson and Steve Cooney, in particular, made great contributions over the years. Another friend played with the band for several years, master fiddler, Paul O'Shaughnessey, a dazzling and fiery player with a deep knowledge of Donegal music. The two-fiddle sound stuck, so when, as Altan toured more and more widely, Paul had to leave due to pressure of work, his place was taken by another great young Donegal fiddler, Ciaran Tourish, a player with a special love for the weaving of spontaneous harmony and counterpoint round the melodies of the other lead players.
Through the years audiences are continually struck by the genuine camaraderie and mutual respect among the members of Altan, and this has been vitally important to the band themselves as well as producing a marked effect on live audiences. So when a final element was added to the sound in the early nineties it was another old friend, though not old in years, since the band had known him and his music since he was a boy. Accordion-player Dermot Byrne, another Donegal man was weaned on the music of an older generation of Donegal fiddlers, the Doherty's, the Byrne's and the Cassidy's. While Dermot's status as a complete virtuoso had been secure for many years before he joined the band, it is also part of his gift that he is able to blend seamlessly with other musicians, so Altan just seemed to get tighter and tighter as a performing unit.
Sadly, in the early nineties, Altan was dealt a devastating blow, when band leader and manager, Frankie Kennedy, at the height of his powers as a brilliant and innovative flute-player and just when his and Mairéad's musical dreams were being realised, was diagnosed with cancer. Through a long illness, the band, at Frankie's insistence, continued to tour and perform with Frankie's participation whenever possible. No words can describe the effects of his illness and loss on the band, but he continues to be a presence and inspiration in Altan's life and music - more than anything else, Frankie was a lover of life and perhaps the deepest message of all music is that life goes on - no matter what.
Altan's international status and success found a very practical recognition when they were signed in 1996 to Virgin Records, the first Irish band of their kind to be signed by a major label. The band gained gold and platinum albums in Ireland and toured larger venues, literally throughout the world, with tours in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Europe as well as regular successful U.S. tours.
In spite of a hectic touring and recording schedule, Altan continues fresh in their vision of bringing the beauty and joy of traditional music to audiences everywhere, and have always promised themselves to continue as long as it's fun - fortunately, it still is.

Altan opened the Festival proceedings in The Little Theatre on Friday May 19th at 8.oo.pm