Singers Terry Kane and Rosaleen McGill are on the bill for the 34th annual Philadelphia Ceili Group music festival.
Tony DeMarco.
As far as I’m concerned, you don’t get much more Irish than that. Sure, his Dad was Italian, but the part-Irish DeMarco (his mom’s a Dempsey) is one of the finest practitioners of the so-called Sligo style of fiddling. It’s bouncy, intricate (musicians call it ornamentation), and you can’t keep your foot still for love nor money.
DeMarco, who recently produced his first CD, will be challenging you to stay in your seat on Friday night , September 12, when he performs during the 34th Annual Philadelphia Ceili Group Irish Music and Dance Festival, held at the Irish Center in Mt. Airy. The three-day event is a musical must-see for anyone interested in traditional Irish music and dance–in fact, for anyone with an interest in real folk music.
It kicks off with one of the best additions in recent years—Thursday’s Irish Circle of Song, featuring local singers Rosaleen McGill, Matt Ward, Kathy DeAngelo, Eugenia Brennan, and Terry Kane. Also joining them on stage will be Brian Hart, the only American ever to win an All-Ireland title for singing at the Irish Fleadh Cheoil, and Canadian sean nos (old time) singer Catherine Crowe, who also usually brings her handmade jewelry to sell.
If you really, truly can’t keep your feet still during Tony DeMarco’s performance on Friday, or it gives you a case of the restless legs, head into the Irish Center’s Big Ballroom where you can kick up your heels to Danny Flynn’s The Bog Wanderers, a topnotch ceili band from Maryland. The Washington Post called their first CD “consistently enjoyable.”
On Saturday, the doors open at noon to one jam-packed day, tailor-made for the multi-tasker. There are workshops in fiddle, accordian, bodhran pipes, sean nos singing, and step-dancing from noon to 2 PM in the Ballroom. There’s a tin whistle workshop followed by a pipes, flutes and whistles concert so everyone can show off what they learned.
In the Ballroom, what’s billed as a “continuous killer ceili” will keep you moving and grooving from 2 to 10 PM , followed, if you have the energy or are still living, by a traditional Irish House Party (a dance so called because it was traditionally held in someone’s home, with the furniture pushed against the walls to create a dance floor) with set and figure dancing to live music.
On the Fireside and John Kelly Stages, there will be concurrent performances, from 2 PM to 10 PM, by a variety of performers. They include the father-son team of Kevin and Jimmy McGillian, brother and sisters John, Judy, and Eugenia Brennan, Brendan Callahan, Sean McComiskey, Fintan Malone of Blarney, Tom O’Malley, Caitlin Finley, Dennis Gormley, Kathy DeAngelo, Tony DeMarco, Danny Flynn,The Bog Wanderers, Brian Hart, Jeremy Bingamen, Mary Malone, Paddy O’Neill, Matt Ward, Matt Heaton, Brendan Mulvihill, Kieran Jordan, Tim Britton, McDermott’s Handy, Catherine Crowe, Rosaleen McGill, Terry Kane, Tim Hill, and more. All are welcome to stay for the Open Music and Song Jam Session (seisiún in Irish) until the wee hours!
But if your bent is more the spoken word, at 6 PM there will be a presentation by, well,you, if you want to read or recite a piece of poetry and prose. Festival director Frank Malley says he’ll “tell a story to start it off, then call on one, then another and another for about an hour to recite, read poetry, or tell stories.”
Local Irishspeaker, Tom Cahill, will recite in Irish, then translate into English.
All-festival tickets are $35. Individual tickets cost $12 for Thursday’s Irish Circle of Song, $15 for Friday’s Tony DeMarco Concert and The Bog Wanderers; and $20 for Saturday’s musical extravaganza.
Check out some of last year’s photos here.
Here’s where you can buy tickets.
And here’s why I love Tony DeMarco’s music so much. Listen to tracks from his new CD here.
This is why I can’t get enough of Terry Kane’s angelic voice. Listen to clips from her CD here.
