2nd Annual Sean-nós Northwest Festival Jan. 16th - 17th, 2009
Sean-nós Northwest is proud to present the 2nd annual Sean-nós Northwest Festival, January 16-17, 2008. The Sean-nós Northwest Festival celebrates and promotes three aspects of traditional Irish culture – sean-nós singing, sean-nós dancing, and Gaeilge, the Irish language. These living folk traditions from the rural West of Ireland are strikingly beautiful, vitally satisfying, and incredibly rare to find anywhere outside of Ireland.
The festival brings master artists Áine Meenaghan, Brían Ó hAirt, and Ben Power to the Pacific Northwest to teach day-long workshops in these traditions. Learners at all levels, from absolute beginners to advanced practitioners, are welcome. Participants will have the opportunity to showcase their skills during an open session at the end of the day, and the master teachers will perform in a concert, open to the public, in the evening.
Schedule
Fri. Jan 16, 2008, 8pm – 12:30pm
Irish Céilí Dance with Crumac
PPAA, 618 SE Alder, Portland, OR
Sat. Jan 17, 2008
Workshops: Sean-nós song, Sean-nós Dance and Galeic (Irish language)
Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced
Sunnyside Environmental School
3421 SE Salmon St, Portland
Sat. Jan. 17, 2008, 8pm
Sean-nós Northwest Concert
Sunnyside Environmental School
3421 SE Salmon St, Portland
Áine Meenaghan (Sean-nós Singing)
Áine Meenaghan was born and raised in Cinn Mhara, Connemara in Co. Galway, Ireland. Irish was her first language, and she began singing the traditional songs of her locale at an early age. She gave her first public performance when she was 8 years old, and she won first place at the Fleadh Cheoil na Iathair when she was 11. When she was 18, she became the youngest person ever to win the coveted Corn Uí Riada, the highest honor awarded to sean-nós singers. Since immigrating to Chicago, she has performed at the premiere Irish and Celtic music festivals in the United States accompanied by musicians like Martin Hayes, Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin, John Williams, and Randal Bays.
Ben Power (Sean-nós Dance)
Ben Power is a flute and bodhrán player, singer, and sean nós dancer from just outside Liverpool, England. He moved to Dublin, Ireland in the mid-90s to study Traditional Irish Music. Ben holds an MA in Traditional Irish Music from University of Limerick. In Limerick he also began to learn sean-nós dance, studying with various Connemara dancers and the Clare step dance master, James Keane. Ben plays with the Cathie Ryan Band and has performed with Solas, Alisdair Frasier, Dougie MacLean, and Mick Moloney. He is currently working on a PhD in Ethnomusicology at UC San Diego.
More at www.myspace.com/woodenflute
Brían Ó hAirt (Gaeilge/Irish Language)
Brían Ó hAirt is a musician, scholar, sean-nós singer, and noted teacher of the Irish language. Brían is a fluent speaker of the Connemara dialect of Irish. His affinity toward traditional Irish Gaelic songs and more specifically to the sean-nós style of singing encouraged him to learn the Irish language to an uncanny fluency through several summers of immersion in the Ceantar na nOileán region of west Co. Galway. He became the youngest and first ever American to win the coveted Sgiath Uí Dhálaigh shield at the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in Listowel, Co. Kerry in 2002. He currently performs with the Chicago-based band Bua and teaches Irish language at Washington University in St. Louis.
More at www.brianohairt.com & www.myspace.com/brianohairt
