North American Comhaltas Convention. April 16-19, 2020. San Francisco, CA.

The Comhaltas North American Convention
April 16-19, 2020

Immerse yourself in four days of Irish music, dance, culture, and community… in the city known as Ireland By The Bay.

Join the Sliabh Sandia branch at the convention! There will be dancing, singing, playing, storytelling and general merriment!

For hotel and Convention registration visit the CCE 2020 Convention Website.

Schedule

  • Thursday April 16, 2020
    Welcome Ceili with the Golden Gate Ceili Band
  • Friday April 17, 2020
    Tours, workshops, Ceili with Pearl River All-Star Ceili Band. Late night Set dancing.
  • Saturday April 18, 2020
    Tours, workshops, Banquet and Ceili with John Whelan Ceili Band. Late night set Dancing.
  • Sunday April 19, 2020
    Mass, Workshops, Farewell Ceili.

The Great River Irish and Scottish Music Festival

September 15, 2019
National Hispanic Cultural Center
1701 4th St SW in Albuquerque
Festival hours 1:00 – 6:00 (Free event)
Concert begins at 6:30pm

Old Blind Dogs/ Saoirse Tickets HERE.

Featuring Old Blind Dogs

and opening with Saoirse

Concert tickets are $23 ($18 for 65 and older, under 12, and paid members of Sliabh Sandia CCE).

Free outdoor festival with music and dance performances and workshops, followed by a ticketed concert in the Bank of America Theater featuring the renowned Scottish band Old Blind Dogs. and Albuquerque’s own Saoirse.

The festival will include appearances by local artists Grace Broadhead, Louis Scuderi and the Duke City Ceili Band.

There will be free music workshops and a good old-fashioned Irish ceili dance (beginners welcome!).

Come to the festival and enjoy the music, learn a new tune, dance a new dance, and get to know the New Mexico Irish and Scottish music and dance community!

Purchase Tickets:

Tickets for the evening show are available at the NHCC Box Office, by calling (505) 724-4771, or by going to the NHCC website. On-line ticket sales will incur a $2.50 – $3.00 service charge. Tickets may be purchased in advance or at the door. We will announce on this website when the show is sold out. NHCC on-site Box Office Hours: Tuesday – Friday from 10 AM to 5 PM, Saturday from 12 PM to 5 PM, and one hour prior to the show.

2019 Great River Irish and Scottish Music Festival

We are moving forward with planning for the 2019 Great River Irish and Scottish Music Festival. The event will be held on the afternoon and evening of September 15th at the National Hispanic Cultural Center. The headliner for the event will be the award‐winning Scottish folk band Old Blind Dogs who will perform at 7:30pm in the performance hall. We are looking for branch members to help with planning for this event, and to offer festival workshops or performances. For more information, please contact Laura at
LB17084@gmail.com

 

Comhaltas Midwest Fleadh Ceoil: Congratulations to Grace Broadhead

The Broadhead family continues to represent Sliabh Sandia in winning style! Their trip to the Comhaltas Midwest Fleadh Ceoil in Chicago was a big success. Grace’s newly composed tune came in 1st place (all ages) and she tied for 3rd place in the fiddle competition (15‐18 yrs). Grace sang the newly composed song that her brother John wrote which is now eligible to be sung in competition in Ireland in August. Congratulations!

Irish Music Survey

Branch member Doug Patrick is encouraging those who appreciate Irish music, song and dance to participate in a survey relating to your knowledge, experience and opinions about Irish traditional music. The survey forms part of an ongoing research project conducted by Patrick Egan (Pádraig Mac Aodhgáin), a concertina player and researcher from Wicklow, Ireland, and a digital Fellow based at the Library of Congress.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KXFSMQL

Sliabh Sandia Musicians Volunteer in Las Alamos Public Schools

Our fellow Sliabh Sandia members were a big hit with the young‘uns in Los Alamos! The musicians volunteered their time and donated the proceed to our branch.

Here’s what the teachers had to say:

Thank you Cleve for coming with the group. My students loved it and I really enjoyed myself also. I don’t think I had seen the Irish pipes played live so that was a treat! The addition of a dancer was wonderful but of course my kids favorite part was getting to dance to your music. They loved that! Thank you again for sharing your passion for Irish music with all of us. It was a great experience!

Thank you so much for working with me to organize your group coming up to play for us, and I hope you share this assembly with other schools in our state too! It was fabulous and the kids and teachers had a great time! Perhaps the other two elementary schools in our district will give you a call next year!