www.cic.ie

Jimmy Dinny Ó Gallchóir - Seal ag Gabháil don Cheol.
Jimmy Dinny Ó Gallchóir was born in Cois Cláidí in Gaoth Dobhair in April 1921. The CD, Jimmy Dinny Ó Gallchóir - Seal ag Gabháil don Cheol, has nine tracks in total, both in English and Irish. Included among the tracks is the well-known song, Amhrán Pheadair Bhreathnaigh, which Jimmy often sang. The English songs in the album include Lovely Green Gweedore, The Star of Donegal, and Carrickmannon Lake.

Patsy Ó Ceannabháin - Fear Múinte Mánla.
The CD, Patsy Ó Ceannabháin - Fear Múinte Mánla, was launched in Park Lodge Hotel, Spiddal in Galway on the 3rd October. Máire Pheter Uí Dhroighneáin launched the CD, and Máirtín Tom Sheáinín was MC for the occasion. Patsy’s family, friends and colleagues had a wonderful night celebrating a wonderful Connemara voice.

www.claddaghrecords.com
There are a number of classic re-issues presently on-line on the Claddagh website. Joe Burke - The Tailors Choice GLCD1045
A wonderful mixture of tunes played as only the legendary, Joe Burke can play them, mostly on flute, whistle and, of course, even some accordion. Joe has brought to the forefront the rich Galway flute tradition. It features Máire Ní Chathasaigh on harp and Brian Conway on fiddle.
Bobby Gardiner - Memories of Clare (COP5010). Bobby Gardiner is an All-Ireland Champion eleven times over and a native of County Clare and on this, his first recording made in the early 1960’s, Bobby recorded many of the tunes that he learned around his home as a boy.

www.roscommonarts.com/trad/flute/htm

The recently released Roscommon flute CD, The Flute players of Roscommon Volume 2, which was recently reviewed on this magazine, can now be purchased online from the Roscommon traditional arts forum website. The album features some of the finest emerging Roscommon flute players, along with archive recordings of some of the great masters from the county. These include legendary names such as Jim Donoghue, Pakie Duignan, Peg McGrath, Tom McHale and many more.

www.augustaheritage.com

Irish and Celtic Week at the Augusta Heritage Center, Elkins, West Virginia
Twenty-seven years ago, Mick Moloney, Billy McComiskey and Liz Carroll pioneered an Irish music week program at Davis & Elkins College in West Virginia. Since its modest start, the Augusta Heritage Center’s Irish/Celtic Week has grown into a 250 student summer camp that attracts musicians, dancers and singers from groups such as De Dannan, Cherish the Ladies and Solas, as well as tradition bearers from the Aran Isles, West Cork and New York City as its teachers. The program features classes, concerts, céilís and a seemingly never-ending set of informal sessions at which the famous and novice generally hobnob at ease.
Two years ago, Mick Moloney resigned from the coordinator position to pursue academic research interests in Asia during the summer, and tin whistle and flute player Joanie Madden, sparkplug leader of Cherish the Ladies, was hired to take his place. This year Joanie assembled a remarkable faculty of teachers including Connemara flautist, Marcus Herndon, seminal bodhrán player Johnny ‘Ringo’ McDonagh, banjo whiz, Angelina Carberry, bouzouki ace, Alec Finn, uilleann pipes great, Jerry O’Sullivan, Ballyvourney set dance master, Timmy ‘The Brit’ McCarthy, former Solas singer-guitarist John Doyle, the scintillating fiddlers Yvonne & Liz Kane, U.S. National Heritage Fellow, step-dancer Donny Golden, who trained both Michael Flatley and Cara Butler, and singer-songwriter Robbie O’Connell, of the famous Clancy family. Each teacher - and there were many more, including the author - immersed his or her students in as many songs or tunes or steps as could be absorbed, and prepared their classes for a final performance attended by the entire camp.
Part of the considerable charm of Augusta’s Irish Celtic Week comes from the fact that it takes place in West Virginia, a beautiful, fascinating and less frequently visited state almost wholly within the Appalachian Mountains and at a crossroads between the North and South. Searching for an Irish parallel, one might liken West Virginia to Sliabh Luchra. The spoken accent and the topography are very different indeed but strong commonalities exist.
For centuries, people in each area have gotten by modestly typically, and both possess a great love of their homelands and traditions, including stories, dancing and songs. West Virginia was settled principally by Scots-Irish who brought songs and fiddle music to the hills, and traces of the Ireland are still to be seen in the native ‘flat-foot’ dancing and heard in old ballads and dance tunes. Augusta Irish/Celtic Week is held directly after the Catskills Irish Week in New York State and offers a perfect follow-on fortnight Irish-American experience for those IMM readers who can never get enough and why should we settle for less!
Dates for Irish/Celtic week are set for July 19th - 24th, 2009. For further information: www.augustaheritage.com

www.fridayharborirish.com

Friday Harbor Irish Music Camp will run from March 9th to 15th in northern Washington State. This is close to the border with Canada and would make a pleasant sail down from Vancouver for a fiddler on yacht!
The camp ticket includes tuition for classes, lodging, meals, and admission to concerts and other evening events. The camp will be a total of five days and six nights. Tutors include: Fiddle - Liz and Yvonne Kane; Flute - Catherine McEvoy; Concertina - Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin; Bouzouki/Mandolin - Roger Landes; Irish Guitar /Song Arranging - Dáithí Sproule; Ear Training/ Music Theory - Randal Bays, who will teach a daily class on ear-training and basic music theory for traditional musicians, all instruments welcome; Irish Ensemble - All instruments.
Randal Bays will take students through the process of arranging songs and dance tunes for Irish bands. Introduction to Tin Whistle (one class daily) - Andrea Cooper.
For further information please contact Randal Bays or
Dan Paulson via the website www.fridayharborirish.com

www.liet-lavlut.eu

The fifth Liet Lavlut pan-European song-contest for minority languages, held in Luleå, Sweden, was won by the Corsican, Jacques Culioli, with his song Hosanna in Excelsis. The jury award, sponsored by the Council of Europe, was presented to the winner by Alexey Kozhemyakov, the Council of Europe official responsible for the Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.
Eleven artists participated, representing minority languages across Europe from Brittany and Wales to Galicia, northern Scandinavia and the Republic of Mordovia (Russia).
“The Council of Europe is proud to support the Liet Lavlut festival because it substantially contributes to the richness of Europe, its culture and its diversity, and we are particularly happy that the universal language of music has proven so attractive to the young”, said Sonia Parayre, a Council of Europe official. Since the event began in 2002, it has developed into a major cultural festival, highlighting Europe’s cultural and linguistic diversity.
Apart from music, the festival also covers literature, film, and arts and crafts, with seminars and meetings about minority languages and regional issues.
For more information visit www.liet-lavlut.eu or visit the website www.coe.int/minlang

www.sandsfamilyfolk.com

The Sands Family were named Best Irish Folk Band at the Newry Gala Music Awards held recently at the Canal Court Hotel, Newry. The very popular musical family came top of the polls from 14 different categories as the votes were counted from the readers of the local Newry Democrat. The awards were a plush affair, with music industry professionals attending the awards supper which raised money for two cancer charities, the Marie Curie Foundation and the Macmillan Nursing Homes.

www.barrytierney.com

Teenage songwriter, Barry Tierney (19) from Kinsale became the first Irishman to win the UK’s Festival4stars’ International Song Writing Competition with Da Rocket Boy. The prestigious panel of judges included Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees, who placed Barry in the number one spot in the Folk and Country category.
Barry and his band are available to perform live by calling Tel: 0862895075, or checkout www.barrytierney.com

www.compassrecords.com

This is a special compilation album from Compass Records, put together as part of a fundraiser by John Coyne, father of Compass-signed banjo player, Eamon Coyne (of Salsa Celtica). Profits from the sale of the album will go towards supplying fresh water to people in Northern Malawi - we have a feature on the project in this issue.

www.enya.com

Enya’s new album, And Winter Came, could be ordered on the internet from Amazon three weeks prior to its availability in record shop - a clever ploy to get the customers to pay for distribution. This album contains twelve tracks - ten brand new songs plus a newly recorded choral rendering of Oíche Chiúin (Silent Night) and we are informed a stunning version of the traditional Christmas hymn, O come, O come Emmanuel.