TOGETHER IN TRIÚR*TAIR*TRIÚGH*THREE ON TOUR May 15 – 22, 2012
Join Seosaimhín Ní Bheaglaoich, Siân James and Mary Macmaster, in what promises to be an atmospheric and unforgettable tour from 15 – 22 May. Featuring three wondrous voices, this tour is a celebration of the shared musical traditions of the native-language communities in Ireland, Wales and Scotland and includes achingly beautiful lullabies, heart-rending love songs, humorous tongue-twisters and macaronic mash-ups. Music Network tours provide a wonderful opportunity to see some of the world’s foremost musicians at affordable prices in venues around Ireland, and are presented in association with RTÉ lyric fm.
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Derry concert to mark RTÉ Raidio na Gaeltachta’s 40 years on air
On Thursday 19 April RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta will hold a celebratory concert in Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin in Derry as part of their 40 year celebration. The concert will be part of the Celtic Media Festival taking place in the city.
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Sarah McQuaid New Album and April 2012 Ireland/NI Tour
www.sarahmcquaid.com
In conjunction with the recent 2012 release of her new album The Plum Tree and The Rose (currently charting at No. 3 on the Folk Radio Chart, No. 4 on the UK Roots Radio Airplay Chart and No. 5 on the Euro Americana chart), Sarah McQuaid sets out on tour across Ireland and Northern Ireland – see details of dates below.
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BARNEY McKENNA RIP
Banjo legend passes on
Barney McKenna, known affectionately as “Banjo Barney” by thousands of Dubliners Fans has passed away on April 5th aged 72. A member of the group since their formation some 50 years ago, in O’Donoghue’s Pub in Dublin’s Merrion Row. Barney brought not only the banjo but a keen wit to the ballad group. On stage he rarely said much, letting his banjo speak for him, but when called on to add a few lines they were often memorable. He was famous for his stories many were unbelievable but were delivered with such charm as to become known as ‘Barneyisms’.
His legacy is literally in the hands of thousands of traditional banjo players. He is credited as the man who brought the tenor banjo back into traditional music, it had been around in the Irish American dance halls of the 1920’s an escapee from the jazz era, in those days the banjo was tuned CGDA, the maestros of the day preferring rapid fire chord sequences. It was McKenna who popularized the now common Irish tuning GDAE, an octave below the fiddle, which made it eminently suitable for playing melody.
Barney took his tenor banjo around the world with the Dubliners and introduced thousands to such tunes as The Swallows Tail, The Fermoy Lasses and Sporting Paddy and his show stopper The Mason’s Apron. A fine player of the instrument he was not adverse to sending it and himself up.
An important musician for sure and an exemplary entertainer. Irish music has lost a legend, and Irish banjo players everywhere should mourn that their musical Godfather is no longer with us.
May he rest in peace.
