Celebrate the last days of summer with a visit to Masters of Tradition, which runs from 24 – 28 August in Bantry, Co. Cork. It’s the Festival’s 20th anniversary and, as usual, endeavours to journey to the heart of Irish music and provide a platform where subtle elements of the music can be heard.
As ever, the Festival is headlined by its Artistic Director Martin Hayes (interviewed here), the fiddler from East Clare, whose extravagant virtuosity has brought the tradition to new levels.
He says, “Inside traditional music is a significant mastery. This is something you might not notice at a big outdoor event or in a corner of a noisy bar. In this environment, it is possible to bring people inside a very intimate and detailed experience of the music. This was an experience I had growing up myself and I want to share that with people.”
Here is Martin and Steve Cooney having a great time and putting on a phenomenal set at Doolin Folk Festival in 2018:
Joining Martin Hayes in an unmissable opening concert in the Maritime Hotel are Cork pianist Cormac McCarthy, accordion player Brian Donnellan, dancer Stephanie Keane and sean-nós singer Saileog Ní Cheannabháin. Saileog was featured in Myles O’Reilly‘s documentary Backwards To Go Forwards (2018), in which she joined Muireann Ní Cheannabháin to perform the Sean Nos song Uileacán Dubh Ó on Maghermore Beach in Co.Wicklow.
The Thursday evening concert in St Brendan’s Church is eagerly anticipated and presents the renowned Kathryn Tickell Trio from Northumberland. “Kathryn Tickell’s music flows so naturally you could be forgiven for thinking it’s plucked from the air” Neil McFadyen, Folk Radio UK. Kathryn will be joined by Amy Thatcher (accordion, voice, clog dancing) and Stef Conner (lyres, voice). Here’s a video from Opera North’s The Lullaby Project featuring Kathryn with Louisa Tuck (cello), Ruth Wall (harp) and Amy Thatcher (accordion).
Sean-nós singer Lorcán MacMathúna, a well-known name to many of our readers, joins Martin Hayes and Italian-born, Irish-based fiddler Andrea Palandri. Lorcán has collaborated on many projects and has written several articles for Folk Radio UK, including anthropology/song-collectors excursion in Asturias, Preab Meadar – Dancing to Poetry, Sean nós and more. In 2018, The Model gallery in Sligo, owners of a selection of Iconic Images of the greatest Celtic Epic, The Táin, was host to an interpretation of this ancient epic which married three art forms. Below is a performance of Scread Ceann Sualtaim (read more here).
The Bantry House concerts open on Friday evening with fiddler Sorcha Costello and pianist Catherine McHugh joined by Lorcán MacMathúna, fiddler Daire Bracken and pianist and accordionist Martin Tourish.
Late night audiences can catch uilleann piper David Power with violinist Marja Gaynor and Flamenco guitarist John Walsh. David first met Finnish baroque violinist Marja Gaynor in 2016 when he worked with the baroque group Camerata Kilkenny (of which she is a member) to investigate combining music on the uilleann pipes with the baroque folk tradition. The collaboration led to the well-received The Piper and the Faerie Queen on the RTÉ lyric fm label. They then met John and performed a number of online performances during lockdown, including An Samhradh ag Teacht in April 2021 to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Triskel Christchurch.
The popular duo, concertina player and dancer Caitlín Nic Gabhann and fiddler Ciarán Ó Maonaigh, take to the Bantry House stage on Saturday, alongside accordion player Derek Hickey and guitarist Steve Cooney. The candlelit late-night níos déanaí welcomes the Cormac McCarthy Project featuring fiddle player Aoife Ní Bhriain, cellist Kate Ellis and singer Nell Ní Chróinín, Brian Donnellan and Cormac McCarthy for music specially composed and arranged by McCarthy himself.
Elsewhere during the five-day festival are secret concerts in unique local venues, including Future Forests in Kealkil, as well as a series of talks in Bantry’s oldest pub, Ma Murphy’s.
Full programme at www.westcorkmusic.ie/masters-of-tradition
Masters of Tradition is generously supported by the Arts Council and Cork County Council.