The Crimlin Community Arts Music Collective presents From the Ocean to the Fringe at the Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar on Saturday February 27 at 8pm. Crimlin Community Arts is a community music collective of over nine bands including Batafada, Bata Óg, Rockafada, Na Ciotógaí, The Banned Joe Band and Píba Ríba. They cater for local musicians of all tastes and ages. Genres include samba, rock, folk, traditional and pipe band music as well as a fusion of all of these and more. Since forming in 2006, they have performed locally and at international festivals in Spain, Denmark, Italy, Switzerland and more recently at the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival in Scotland. The Volvo Ocean Race Festival and the Mary from Dungloe International Festival were also major performances for the collective in 2009.
World music at its finest with Niwel Tsumbu
Niwel Tsumbu and the Song of the Nations band bring their compelling musical brew to the Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar on Monday, March 1 at 8pm. Congolese guitar sensation Niwel Tsumbu and his new band are set to deliver a night of spine-tingling music to the Linenhall as part of a nation-wide tour presented with funding from the Music Network performance and touring award. Niwel and the Song of the Nations band have been wowing audiences and critics alike with concerts nation-wide and with the band’s recent self-titled album.
Since his arrival in Cork in 2004 from his war-torn homeland, Niwel has developed an enviable reputation as an elegant and fluent guitarist, vocalist, and composer. The new album perfectly showcases his ability to vividly blend African rhythms, rumba, new jazz, classical flamenco and more. Playing electric and acoustic guitars and singing mostly in his native Lingala, Niwel performs a range of music that stretches from contemporary versions of Congolese traditional music from the 1930s and 40s to modern Jazz.
Bruiser brings the laughs back to Castlebar
Bruiser Theatre Company is back in cracking form with its new production of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui at the Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar on Monday February 22 at 8pm.
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui is one of Bertolt Brecht's best known plays. It is a savagely hilarious allegory of Hitler's rise to power, in which the Führer is portrayed as charismatic Chicago gangster Arturo Ui, endeavouring to seize the city's fruit and vegetable racket from top-dog Al Capone. He systematically seduces the public and eliminates his political rivals in his bid for total domination.
This is political theatre at its best and most powerful. Six actor/musicians play over 50 characters to bring this powerful story to life in typically exciting, engaging and physical Bruiser style, as previous productions triumphantly testify. Adapted by Ralph Manheim and directed by Lisa May, Arturo Ui is as relevant as ever. The battle for political status and the corruption of power still fill our newspapers in 2010. When credits crunch, to whom do we turn? Arturo Ui offers protection and freedom - but at what price?
