If your looking for a night of excellent live entertainment and fun and something very different then Bar Ritz Castlebar is the place to be next Saturday Night May 30 as up-beat bluegrass traditional folk group The Rye make a very welcome return to the Finbar Hoban Presents… series, Mayo’s only alternative event.
The Rye played at the event in January and went down a storm with hard-loving music enthusiastic. If you like the Pogues and The Soggy Bottom Boys than this will be right up your street. For those of you who missed the group’s performance first time around are in for a real treat from once these guys take to the stage at Bar Ritz! The Rye are an extraordinary five-piece from the west coast of Ireland, they present one of the freshest sounds and most exciting approaches to Irish music heard in recent times.
Mike Farragher of NYC”S Irish Voice puts it thus: “The Rye play savage driven ceol. They throw together modern rock melodies in to a stew of expert traditional playing, turn on a dime chops rarely seen outside a lower Manhattan jazz club, and an irreverence that ties the whole package together in a rowdy, exuberant bow!”
The Rye takes the energy of The Pogues and combines it with the lyrical acuity of Tom Waits. Add in some of the tightest, most impressive ensemble play on the west coast of Ireland and you have not just a band but also a music experience. The band’s line-up consists of Kevin Melly (vocals, acoustic guitar ), Anna Falkneu (fiddle, backing vocals ), Alan Walsh (banjo, electric guitar, backing vocals ), Barry Wallace (bass, banjo ) and Desmond Harrington (drums ).
Some highlights of The Rye’s career include supporting Delorentos, The Pale, two tours of Germany, including an open air gig for the St Patrick Day celebrations in Munich with an audience of some 15,000 people, and a radio appearance on the Tommy Tiernan and Hector show live from the Kilkenny Cat laughs festival.
Galway group A Band Called Wanda, will be playing support on the night, influenced by legends such as Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, much of their material is self-composed. The four band members are Brendan Dolan, Darren Concannon, and Derek Naughton and Maidhc O hEanaigh. They are currently residing in the Charlestown area, fine-tuning their new compositions, and they will be performing at various locations in the coming months including the main stage at the Volvo Ocean Race.
Special guests on the night will be Castlebar traditional group Na Ciotogai. Na Ciotogai formed in 2005 and has being playing around Mayo in various venues bringing their own blend of up-beat traditional music to the masses for over four years now and are well worth checking out. So why not get in early to Bar Ritz Castlebar next Saturday night May 30 to check out Castlebar’s Finest Folk group. Be sure to get your dancing boots on for what promises to be an exciting show and remember to check out www.myspace/finbarhobanpresents com to view photos of past and present shows. Westcoast Audio will provide sound and the show gets underway at 9pm.
