Expect a lot of exuberance at this year's Ceili Group festival.
Welcome to September! Dust off your shamrock deely bobbers, folks. You’re going to need them.
In a couple of weeks we’ll be halfway to St. Paddy’s Day and this is the month where we all start practicing because we have plenty—and I mean plenty—of opportunity. I don’t want to say there’s an Irish festival every week, because I think we’re skipping a week this year. But there are some weekends when there are two or three to make up for it.
[A brief pause to air a pet peeve: Now, seriously, folks, can we get some coordination here? Before you decide on a date for your event, check our calendar. It’s the only comprehensive Irish events calendar in the region and you’ll get more people at your fest if it’s not scheduled say, when most of the Irish people in Philly are in Wildwood destroying their livers or heading to a festival where, in addition to hearing great Irish music, they can see half naked men in kilts throwing telephone poles around. Now, back to our regularly scheduled column.]
First festival of the season award goes to Brittingham’s in Lafayette Hill where East of the Hebrides launched a nice, kid-friendly Irish fest last year in Brittingham’s parking lot. On Sunday, September 5, there’s great music from Paddy’s Well, Jamison, Oliver McElhone, Seamus McGroary, and Whiskey Folk; a beer garden (I’m having one of those next year); Irish dancers and bagpipers; and vendors and delicious food both inside and out (for those of you who’ve been to Ireland, Brittingham’s serves authentic toasties!).
The Saturday before, you can see the Samuel Beckett play, “First Love,” at the Suzanne Roberts Theater in Philadelphia. It stars Irish actor Conor Lovett in his 19th role in a Beckett play. And boy, is his sense of the absurd tired.
Then, come Thursday, gear yourself up for three days and nights of the Philadelphia Ceili Group’s annual festival of traditional Irish song and dance at the Irish Center in Philadelphia.
This year could be one of the best years ever: Remarkable fiddler Liz Carroll will be joining forces with Altan’s Daithi Sproule on stage on Saturday night., September 11. Irish Philadelphia will be there on Saturday afternoon with a table filled with fun for the kiddies, so stop by and see us. (And bring the kids: We have free Silly Bandz and tattoos.) There will be other vendors too, as well as food, drink, Irish dancing, and classes on everything from the Irish language, to making a St. Brigid’s Cross to genealogy (our own resident genealogist Lori Lander Murphy will be giving a talk on how to find your Irish ancestors).
But before that, you can see “The Yellow Bittern: The Life and Times of Liam Clancy,” a much-heralded documentary on the life of this Irish music legend who died last year, on Wednesday night at the Irish Center. On Thursday night, the Singers Circle brings some of the best voices in the area to one place (and if you have a nice voice, come on down and add it!). And on Friday, kick up your heels for a ceili (set dance) featuring legendary Kevin McGillian (on accordian) and Friends along with a Fireside room concert featuring Galway’s finest, Gary Quinn on accordian and Anthony McGrath on guitar.
There are some other amazing musicians who will be performing and/or offering workshops, including Myron Bretholz (bodhran) from Baltimore; Dave Abe (fiddle) from Washington, DC; singers Karen Boyce McCollum and Michael Boyce of Blackthorn; guitarist John Brennan; Cara Frankowicz from New England, who will be teaching fiddle; Dave Hanson (bodhran); and Tim Hill, who, at 17, is an up-and-coming uillean piper.
Also on the bill: Tom Reing, director of the Inis Nua Theatre Company, will be offering an acting workshop for kids aged 8-14; Paraic Keane, from the well-known Keane family in Ireland (dad Sean was with The Chieftains, uncle James is a celebrated box player), will be performing; the Jameson Sisters (angelic voiced Terry Kane and the very funny harper, Ellen Tepper) will be performing and offering workshops in sean nos singing and harp; singer Marian Makins (she of the unbelievably beautiful voice); uillean piper Dan McHugh; flute player Paddy O’Neill; and the irrepressible Gerry Timlin, musician, publican (he’s co-owner of The Shanachie Pub in Ambler, which serves as the occasional home office of irishphiladelphia.com) and comic.
The Ceili Group’s festival will be overlapping on Saturday, Septmber 11, with the Green Lane Scottish-Irish Festival. Music will be provided by the Martin Family Band, the Hooligans, Burning Bridget Cleary, Tree, and Norsewind. There will be pipers of every strip, Highland and Irish dancers, great food, kids activities, and, of course, the big sea monster in the middle of the Green Lane reservoir.
The Young Dubliners are also coming to town on Saturday, September 11, playing the Sellersville Theatre with The Barley Boys and later, on September 14, with the John Byrne Band at the World Café Live in Philadelphia (an Irish Network-Philadelphia get-together and the informal founding of Philadelphia’s new Dublin Society).
Speaking of the Jameson Sisters, they’ll be playing on Friday, September 10, at the Meet The Artists night at Villanova University, where the works of a group of Irish artists in London, “The Quiet Men,” are on exhibit through October. The London Irish co-curator and painter Thomas Whelan will be speaking on the topic, “Who are the Quiet Men?” — referring to the artists who, like many Irish-Americans, have Irish roots but grew up or live in England.
On Saturday, September 11, The Gloucester County AOH will conduct a wreath-laying and short ceremony honoring Commodore John Barry, father of the U.S. Navy and Wexford-born American Revolutionary War patriot, at the monument at the Commodore Barry Bridge. A mass will follow at the AOH hall, with a free luncheon afterwards and music by The Broken Shillelaghs.
There’s more heading our way, so stay tuned!
