src=”http://irishinphilly.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/constancehome-300×237.jpg” alt=”Constance the Butterfly” width=”300″ height=”237″ />
Constance the Butterfly
From singers’ night last Thursday to Saturday’s smashing finale, a concert by the legendary Dé Danann, the 2012 Philadelphia Ceili Group Festival was far and away one of the most popular and best attended ever.
Probably the best sign of success was the Saturday Dé Danann show, with opener, the uillean piper Paddy Keenan accompanied by Dé Danann bouzouki player Alec Finn. The Irish Center ballroom was as packed as it’s ever been, with a lot of late-arriving concert-goers going chairless. They didn’t seem to mind. Dé Danann, with the luminescent singer Eleanor Shanley belting out tunes, was incredibly sharp for a band that was formed at about the time the Pleistocene era was ending. OK, maybe not that long ago, but there sure was a lot of gray hair up onstage.
Earlier in the day, festival-goers had their choice of things to do, from face-painting with the kids to dancing lessons to musical workshops with the likes of Dé Danann iconic bodhran player Johnny “Ringo” McDonagh.
Sean Tyrrell’s one-man show, “Who Killed James Joyce,” was likewise well attended on Friday night.
We were there for most of it, and we have the pictures to prove it.
Check them out:
