GALWAY-MAYO folk, trad, and roots band We Banjo 3 perform for the president of the USA, Barack Obama, in Washington DC tomorrow. The audience will also include vice-president Joe Biden, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan.
We Banjo 3's performance is part of the Friends of Ireland Luncheon, an annual event which follows the presentation of a crystal bowl of shamrock to the US president by the Taoiseach. The luncheon will take place in Capitol Hill, Washington DC.
"This is a huge honour for the band," says We Banjo 3's Enda Scahill. "We were personally selected to represent the very best of Irish culture at this special reception with the President of the United States. We're excited and humbled to perform in such esteemed company."
The band are currently on tour in the USA where they are due to perform, collectively, to more than 300,000 people in Michigan, Ohio, Nashville, Tennessee, and Chicago. To fit this prestigious event into their schedule, they are driving directly to Washington DC from Charleston, West Virginia, where they will record a radio show for Mountain Stage Radio, a folk show with more than one million listeners across the US. After the luncheon, the band will than drive 11 hours to Chicago for the next concert. Last month the band were nominated for Folk Alliance International Artist of the Year.
