Although the Philadelphia Ceili Group Irish Music Festival lost its long-time director, Frank Malley, this year to cancer, the show that must go on is going on in his honor.
And, says his daughter Courtney Malley, his spirit will be all over it. Singer’s Circle, for example, will be moving from Thursday to Friday night, a prime spot. “Dad and I are singers, that’s our big passion, so it’s going to be a fun night,” says Malley, who is a co-chair of this year’s festival.
On Saturday, the emphasis will be on education. “My Dad was a natural-born teacher. He taught us the tradition, how to run festivals, do it on a shoe-string, find the manpower, and to be nice to the volunteers so they come back year after year,” she says.
There will be workshops on genealogy, sean nos singing, dancing, and instruction and showcases on a variety of instruments, from the whistle to the harp.
“In past years, we’ve really focused on more local musicians and we’re doing that this year too,” she says.
Piper and flutist Tim Britton, who grew up in the Philadelphia area, will be back from his new home in Iowa for a concert on Thursday night and will be playing the whole weekend. (If you’re hankering for some new uillean pipes, you might want to talk to him. He’s one of the leading makers of these smaller, sweeter-sounding pipes.)
On Friday, the singers will include locals Rosaleen McGill, Terry Kane, and Matt Ward, along with County Armagh singer Len Graham and all-Ireland ballad champ Brian Hart of St. Louis,who was the first American to win the title—and the youngest person ever. Graham, who was Ireland’s Traditional Singer of the Year in 2002, has been singing and recording for more than 30 years. He was one of the Irish singers featured in the Smithsonian’s 2007 Folklife Festival tribute to Northern Ireland. (He actually gave a concert at the Library of Congress. No one said, “Shhhhh!”) There will be a session afterwards, so bring your instrument and lilting voice.
The ever-popular McGillian Family—some combination of patriarch Kevin, sons Jimmy and John, and perhaps Mary–will provide the music for the Friday night ceili dance.
Saturday’s workshops will certainly be punctuated with music and there will be vendors and food. That evening, our out-of-town visitors Len Graham, Brian Hart, and Hart’s group, BUA, will share the stage with a new local trad group, Cruinn, featuring singer Rosaleen McGill. Also on hand—two remarkable fiddlers: Pairac Keane, who hails from Dublin and is the son of Chieftans’ fiddler Sean Keane, and six-year-old Haley Richardson from New Jersey, who won first place at the Mid-Atlantic Fleadh Choil (Music Contest) in Pearl River, NY.
And at 10 PM, all the chairs will be shoved aside in the Fireside Room for an old-fashioned Irish house party—music, dancing, and whatever else happens—all in honor of the late Frank Malley, who sang and danced and enjoyed whatever else happened.
You’ll want to be there.
Here’s the way it looked in past years.
Here are the workshops:
From noon until 2PM onSeptember 12th, attend workshops with
Brian O’hAairt (Sean Nos Singing/InIrish)
Sean Gavin (Uillean Pipes)
Chris Bain (Beginning Fiddle)
Len Graham(History of Ulster)
Brian Miller (DADGAD Guitar)
Josh Dukes (Flute)
TerryKane (Irish Language)
John Shields & Cass Tinney (Ceili/Set Dancing).
From3 until 5PM, attend workshops with:
Len Graham (Singing in English)
Sean Gavin(Tin Whistle)
Chris Bain (Intermediate Fiddle)
Will Hill (Genealogy)
BrianMiller (Accompanying Irish Music)
Josh Dukes (Bodhran)
Ellen Tepper (IrishHarp)
Brian O’hAirt (Sean Nos Dancing).
