There will be two featured acts on the night, plus invited guests and a selection of local performers.
First on the bill is Galway music scene stalwarts, folk band Those Empty Vessels, featuring guitar, mandolin and bodhran, playing lively versions of traditional songs, sung in close harmony.
Second is the renowned traditional singer Alice Gallanagh. Hailing from Donegal, and now residing in Galway, she plays fiddle and bouzouki with a repertoire of traditional songs.
The event is being organised by Galway folk group Three Rod Wale which will also contribute a few songs, and there will be a number of open slots to kick off the evening.
Bringing the tradition of folk music to Galway’s west end, The Silver Spear Folk Club plans to showcase folk music to the good folk of Galway. Expect songs, ballads and tunes from the island of Ireland to the North Country of England and Scotland, and all the way across the Atlantic Ocean to the Appalachian mountains.
There will be innuendo-filled ditties of spotted cows and ships-a-sailing; ballads which tell tales of false lovers, mistaken identity, theft and familial tragedy; and rousing choruses to bellow on your way home. All accompanied with some of the best and oldest melodies in existence.
“Come listen to the string-tricate picking of guitar, bouzouki, banjo, mandolin, the pull of the fiddle, and the beat of the bodhrán,” says organiser Diarmaid Geever.
Galway is no stranger to folk music according to author Anna Falkenau, says Geever. “In 1961, Dick Byrne established a ballad club in the Enda Hotel on Dominick Street, later renamed the Fo’Castle Folk Club in 1963.
“This club was seminal in the development of folk music and many significant figures in the Irish music scene both played there and were involved with the club, including Sean Tyrell, Sweeney’s Men and De Dannan.”
Tickets €10. For info see www.WTAFFringe.com
