THE GALWAY Sessions festival, the annual celebration of Irish folk, trad, and dance, returns from Monday June 15 to Sunday 21, with a special focus on Connemara's many and magnificent musicians, singers, and dancers.
Subtitled Blas Connamara - a taste of Connemara - the festival starts each day with an open air sean-nós dancing exhibition in the Latin Quarter, followed by a recital at The King's Head at 3pm. Sessions take place daily between 5pm and 8pm in Tigh Coili's and Taffee's, followed by recitals at St Nicholas' Collegiate Church at 8pm. Nightly concerts are in Monroe's Live and The Crane Bar.
Performers include Lúnasa in concert in Monroe's Live at 8.30pm on Thursday June 18, as well as shows from leading trad music families the MacDonnacadhs, Devanneys, Conneeleys, Hernons, Connollys, O'Hallorans, and Ó Cheannabhains, as well as Liz and Yvonne Kane. The festival will also give recognition to John Gerard Welsh (Clifden ) Gerry D'Arcy (Oughterard ), and Steve Sweeney (An Spidéal ) who have made major contributions to trad in their localities.
The feature event will be the Eddie Moloney Memorial Concert at the Town Hall Theatre on Saturday June 20, which also marks the release of recordings compiled by his son Sean. Eddie Moloney (1920-1980 ) is considered the greatest trad flautist of his time. He played with many famous ceili bands including Ballinakill (1950s ), Mulhaire (1960s ) and Shaskeen (1970s ). The concert will feature Frankie and Sean Gavin, Joe Burke and Anne Conroy, members of the aforementioned ceili bands, and Eddie's family.
Other events include Rab Fulton's Celtic Tales storytelling night on Thursday June 18 at 8pm at The Crane Bar and a singers club on Saturday 20 at 6pm at The Crane. See www.galwaysessions.com
