Traditional Irish music is a bit of a miracle. In many other Western European countries, homegrown music with roots that go back centuries (or even millennia) might be played at rural festivals and during cultural celebrations: A reminder of times long gone and largely obsolete. Here in West Cork and […]
Music
There is something about West Cork. It may be the landscape, or the people. It holds a powerful attraction. Katrina O’Kane was well aware of it as a child when, growing up in Belfast, her mother took her “down south” to visit a friend on their beautiful farm in Borlin […]
Jason Ward reviews Maria Doyle Kennedy at Levis’ in Ballydehob Our ideas of places we have never visited are often influenced by how we see them in movies, in books and on TV. My first ideas of life in Ireland were formed by the movie The Commitments. In 1991, I […]
There is a sentence about the singer-songwriter and guitarist Niall Connolly that is very memorable. It’s on his website, www.niallconnolly.com. Part of his Electronic Press Kit (EPK), it is being used over and over again by many of the venues where he plays: “A master storyteller, Niall Connolly is the kind of […]
The highlight of the seventh Drimoleague Singing Festival, which runs from September 19-22, is sure to be the Sunday night concert featuring Hothouse Flowers, who will bring their legendary high energy show featuring rock, roll and soul, as well as a hefty dose of Irish traditional music influences to All […]
West Cork all-female band The Kates are set to launch their debut EP ‘Pictures Here of Dreams’ this month at the Clonakilty International Guitar Festival. A much-loved local band, The Kates were initially set up by folk and country musician Paula K O’Brien. Paula and her family organise a fundraiser […]