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
Mark your calendars for a traditional Irish music performance with Fiddler Brian Conway and Button Accordionist John Whelan, in concert on October 5, 7:30PM at Tortuga Gallery. Keep posted for details.
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!
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
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!
The 2019 North American CCE Convention will take place in conjunction with the Mid‐Atlantic Fleadh Cheoil on June 7‐9, at the Parsippany Hilton in Parsippany, NJ. If you are interested in attending this super‐fun event full of dancing, music and storytelling, please click here: https://www.ccenorthamerica.org/news‐events/convention‐2019/.
The Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann will again be held in Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland in August. Also known as the All‐Ireland championship, it’s described as the “most important event in the Irish traditional calendar” and will be a sight to behold for anyone up for the trip: http://fleadhcheoil.ie/
Sliabh Sandia CCE is proud to co-sponsor the New Mexico tour of Annemarie Ní Churreáin. She is a poet and writer from Donegal, Ireland. Her debut collection Bloodroot (Doire Press, 2017) was shortlisted for the Shine Strong Award for best first collection in Ireland and for the 2018 Julie Suk Award in the U.S.A. She is the recipient of literary fellowships from Akademie Schloss Solitude, Jack Kerouac House Orlando, and Hawthornden Castle Scotland. In 2016, Annemarie was the recipient of a Next Generation Artists Award from the Arts Council of Ireland.
Wednesday, February 13. 7pm – 9pm. To register, email Jim Crowley. Location TBD but probably at Jim Crowley’s house. Check back for update. Cost: $35. Payment at the door. Please bring cash as we are not able to accept Credit or Debit cards.
Randall will be giving an Irish Fiddle workshop/ masterclass. Randall is a master teacher, and his workshops are quite fun and insightful, as many locally can attest. Instruction will be at the intermediate/ advanced fiddle level.
Friday, February 15, 2019 at 7 PM – 10 PM At Tortuga: 901 Edith Blvd SE, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87102 Tickets at the door $20 or online here.
Randal Bays & John Coyne bring power and passion to the traditional music of Ireland to the Tortuga gallery in Albuquerque, playing the old music with an intensity not usually heard outside of a late night pub session in Ireland. Fiddle tunes… the reels and the jigs that are the hallmark of the Irish tradition, plus a great selection of songs, a few stories (some true), often a guest musician or dancer jumping in… all of this delivered with a heartfelt wish to share this magnificent tradition with their audience.
Randal lives in Seattle and has been seriously obsessed with Irish fiddle music for… well, let’s say a very long time. He’s recorded and toured in the US, Ireland and Europe with Martin Hayes, Daithí Sproule James Kelly and many more. As Fiddler Magazine says, “Randal Bays is one of the finest Irish fiddlers one could ever hope to hear.”
John Coyne hails from Limerick, Ireland and has been resident in Boston for some years. His excellent bouzouki playing and fine singing have made him the “first call” accompanist for many great traditional musicians including Mary McNamara, Mickey Dunne and Frankie Gavin.
Up and coming Albuquerque fiddle star Grace Broadhead and Scott Estes will open.
