Laying a wreath at Joseph McGarrity's grave.
If harp music always makes you think of angels, you’ll be in heaven listening to Celtic harp masters Grainne Hambley and William Jackson, who will be doing “The Music of Mayo” at the Commodore Barry Club (The Irish Center) on Saturday night.
It’s the latest in the series celebrating the music of the west of Ireland sponsored by the Philadelphia Ceili Group.
Grainne Hambley, who is from Mayo, won the senior All-Ireland titles on both harp and concertina in 1994 and the prestigious Keadue and Granard harp competitions. Multi-instrumentalist William Jackson is a Glaswegian—we love the sound of that, but all it means is that he hails from Glasgow, Scotland—where he has been at the forefront of Scottish traditional music for more than 35 years. He’s also a noted composer.
They are also offering workshops at 3 PM on Saturday in harp and tin whistle.
Also on Saturday, the group Clancy’s Pistol will be providing the music at the 9th annual Project Children benefit at the Richard T. Rossiter Memorial Hall in National Park, NJ, which also features a beef-and-beer, auctions, raffles, and fun. The group needs to raise $1,000 for each child they bring over from Northern Ireland this summer.
Unless there’s a rain-out, it’s also St. Patrick’s Day (again?) at the Reading Phillies at FirstEnergy Stadium in Reading. The first 2,000 grownups get a 32 ounce Baseballtown Collectors’ Mug and there will live Irish music. Before the Reading Phils play the Akron Aeros, the Cleveland Indians’ farm team.
On Sunday there’s the annual commemoration of Joseph McGarrity, the County Tryone immigrant to Philadelphia who was a leading member of Clan na Gael and financially and politically supported the Irish war for independence/ The event is held at Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon, where McGarrity is buried. Members of his family still live in the area. A dinner will follow at the Oaks Ball Room in Glenolden.
Also on Sunday: the Nuala Kennedy Band will be appearing at the Blue Ball Barn in Wilmington, DE. Kennedy is an Irish singer and flute player from Dunkalk, County Lough, on the east coast of Ireland.
“A Behanding in Spokane,” a play by Irish writer Martin McDonagh, continues at the Christ Church Neighborhood House in Philadelphia.
On Monday, Jennifer Redmond, PhD, will speak at Villanova University about “Irish Women’s Migration,” an Irish studies event co-sponsored by the History and Gender Women’s Studies program.
Midweek, catch Portland, Oregon-based Colleen Raney with Colm MacCarthaigh and the region’s own John McGillian at Milkboy Café in Ardmore.
On Thursday, those wild Balkan gypsy lads, Scythian, bring their energy and fusion Celtic music to the Sellersville Theatre.
Also on Thursday, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist William Kennedy (“Ironweed”) will be reading from his newest novel, “Changó’s Beads and Two-Tone Shoes,” at the Connelly Center Cinema at Villanova University as part of its 14th Annual Literary Festival.
Next Friday, catch Randal Bays and Davey Mathias at a house concert in Lansdale (they’ll be at Coatesville on Saturday night and the Kildare’s West Chester session on Sunday night, plus doing workshops at West Chester University earlier in the day).
Jamison is also on stage on Friday night, this time to help raise money for Father Judge High School football at Sprinkler Fitters Hall in Philadelphia.
Next weekend is huge: Saturday is “Fight Night,” a fundraiser for the Young Ireland’s Gaelic Football Club, at the Irish Center, with a roster of local fisticuffs experts; the John Byrne Band will be performing at Milkboy in Ardmore; and The Priests—three singing ones—will be performing at the Scottish Rite Theatre in Collingswood, NJ. Sunday. . .well, we’ll save that one for next week, unless you want to take a peek at our calendar, always a good idea.
