The tenth international Fastnet Maritime and Folk Festival takes place in Ballydehob from June 16-18, 2023.
A merger of ‘Sliabh Luachra’ instrumental music and Irish and UK maritime songs and traditions, the festival concert at Ballydehob Levis Corner House on Saturday, June 18 features Martyn Wyndham Read, SteveTurne, Matt Cranitch and Jackie Daly, Gemma Khawaja, Pat Fleming, Maria Cotter, Jim Mageean and Pat Sheridan.
Martyn Wyndham Read (pictured) is an English folk singer, who was a collector and singer of Australian folk music. He lived and worked in Australia from 1958 to 1967 and was subsequently a regular visitor to the country.
Jackie Daly and Matt Cranitch are acknowledged masters of the rich musical tradition of Sliabh Luachra in the southwest of Ireland. The words ‘Button Accordion’ and ‘Jackie Daly’ are synonymous in the world of Irish traditional music. He was described in the New York Times as “probably the best accordionist in Ireland”. Matt Cranitch is renowned as a fiddle-player and teacher, both at home in Ireland and abroad. He is an authority on the music of Sliabh Luachra and received a PhD from the University of Limerick for his study on the fiddle-playing tradition of this region.
Gemma Khawaja is a singer/guitarist from the Midlands UK (now based in Norfolk) performing traditional songs of the British Isles and creating songs inspired by folkloric customs, folk poesy and poetry.
Jim Mageean is an English folk singer based in Cullercoats, Tyne and Wear, England, specialising in Sea Shanties, traditional maritime music and ‘Geordie’ songs from his native North East of England. He will be singing with Irish Shantyman Pat Sheridan, an expert on Irish Sea Songs
Pat Fleming will be performing with Maria Cotter, and friends. They have a CD of local Sliabh Luachra music available. The CD is a mixture of old and newly-composed tunes from the heart of this rich tradition.
Admission €10. Most other events, except the workshops are free during the festival.
For full programme and tickets go to fastnetmaritime.com
