The 23nd annual Patrick O’Keeffe Traditional Music Festival Castleisland, Co. Kerry, Ireland. October 23th – 26th 2015 Est. 1993 The annual Patrick O’Keeffe Traditional Music Festival programme – which comes with an equally annual warning that it’s provisional by nature and subject to subtle change – has just been released by festival chairman, Cormac O’Mahony…
Castleisland Rugby Club’s U-18 management team has set about a squad building exercise which is due to start out on a high point – on the highest point in Ireland in fact. This is a two-pronged strategy as the management team of Peter Browne and Tommy Griffin have invited the legendary World Mountain Running Champion,…
The floor is waxed, the band is booked, the glitter-ball is twirling away madly in the middle of the ceiling and all for the greatly anticipated and latter day Lanigan’s Ball. They’ve only been at it since the end of March and now they’re facing the final frontier where fancy footwork is king and dancing…
Cill na Martra fiddler and now author and composer, Connie O’Connell has just released a book ‘Bóithrín Na Smaointe’ which includes a pair of CDs of tunes he has written and some of them co-written with his daughter, Áine. Friends of his are organising ‘a celebration of the book rather than a book/cd launch’ at…
The late Sliabh Luachra fiddle player, Paddy Cronin will get, probably, his finest tribute in the final Handed Down live show in Scartaglin on Saturday night at 8pm. Nicky McAuliffe’s head and hands are the safest in the business when it comes to recalling and relating details on Irish Traditional Music, its players and its…
As a race, we have a healthy and natural suspicion of ‘moves’ by those in authority or ‘over us’ as we say here. While all isn’t lost by no means in the move I’ve only heard of recently, it doesn’t bode well for the exposure of Irish Traditional Music on RTÉ Radio 1. On this…
The RTÉ Radio 1 traditional music programme, The Rolling Wave will feature recordings made at the Johnny O’Leary Memorial Concert during the 2014 Patrick O’Keeffe Traditional Music Festival over the next two Sunday nights. Programme presenter , Peter Browne sent a massage to say that the next two Sunday nights of the programme would be…
There was the wave of reaction throughout the world of Irish traditional music at the retirement of collector / broadcaster, Dr. Ciarán MacMathúna from his radio series in late 2005. It was a move which he had flagged well for some months before that final broadcast. On Sunday morning, November 27th 2005 he broadcast his…
Climbers from all over Munster and beyond will converge on Mangerton Mountain in Killarney for a huge charity event on Sunday, November 16th. Climb4Life is aiming to attract both novice and experienced climbers in its ongoing bid to raise funds for the Build4life Cystic Fibrosis Charity. The charity has been providing life saving services for…
There is no fear that Patrick O’Keeffe will be forgotten at the festival in his honour next weekend. He wouldn’t mind in the least if the spotlight is turned on his old friend and fellow musician, Johnny O’Leary on this the 10th anniversary of his passing. The launch of the Terry Moylan penned book: Johnny O’ Leary of…
