TRADITIONAL ARTS FROM SEPTEMBER TO NOVEMBER

These events, celebrating the vibrant traditional arts culture common to all, are funded by the Arts Council

EDUCATION PROJECTS

Counties Antrim and Derry Fiddlers Association

Classes for fiddle and flute take place on Saturday mornings in Broughshane Community Centre, Broughshane County Antrim. Details from Neill Hall, Tel: (028) 2583 1298.

Armagh Pipers Club

Classes on all traditional instruments take place in the Palace Stables and 12 Victoria Street on Mondays and Tuesdays beginning 18 September. Details from Brian and Eithne Vallely,

Tel: (028) 3751 1248.

NI Piping and Drumming School

Learn the highland pipes and drums in regular classes in Belfast and Newry. Details from Winston Pollock, Tel: (028) 9332 2389.

Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, Portglenone, County Antrim Branch

Banjo, fiddle, flute, whistle, bodhran are taught on Monday nights in St. Mary’s PS. Details from Geraldine Donnelly, Tel: (028) 2582 1743.

CCE Bellaghy, County Derry Branch

Friday night classes on all traditional instruments commence in September. Details from Colm Scullion, Tel: (028) 7938 6324.

CCE County Armagh Board

The County Board co-ordinates classes and workshops in each of the nine local branches in Armagh. Details from Marie Fletcher,

Tel: (028) 3752 6685.

Royal Scottish County Dance Society, Belfast Branch

There will be a weekend of Scottish country dancing workshops and a "St. Andrews Night" evening of dancing on 24-25 November. Details from Katherine Burke, Tel: (028) 9076 0233.

Belfast & District Set Dancing and Traditional Music Society

Classes have just started on whistle, pipes, flute, guitar, accordion and fiddle week nights in the Crescent Arts Centre in Belfast. Details from the Crescent Arts Centre, Tel: (028) 9024 2338.

Francis McPeake School of Traditional Music

Classes on fiddle, whistle, flute and pipes are taught on Wednesday and Saturday evenings in St. John the Baptist Primary School in Finaghy. Details from Francis McPeake,

Tel: (028) 9043 4526.

Foyle Folk Music and Poetry Society

There is an informal learners session with the legendary Tommy Peoples, Sunday afternoons in Sandino’s Café in Derry. Details from Joe Mulheron, Tel: (028) 7126 8539.

Antrim Glens Traditions Group,

Cushendun, County Antrim.

Classes are available for accordion, fiddle, whistle, and flute. Enrolment on Friday 29 September. Set Dancing classes commence in October. Enrolment on Wednesday 4 October. Details from Sean Quinn, Tel: (028) 2176 1291.

FESTIVALS

Open House Festival

Cathedral Quarter, Belfast, 4-8 October 2000.

This second annual festival will again bring the best of traditional music to Belfast’s City centre and audiences from all over the city. A unique feature of the festival is the partnership with Belfast Cathedral. This year the innovative choral group ANUNA will headline performances in the Cathedral, with more intimate gig featuring accordionist Alan Kelly and fiddler Tommy Peoples in the John Hewitt and Duke of York pubs.

Contact: Kieran Gilmore, Tel: (028) 9145 4754.

Mid-Ulster Folk Festival

Burnavon Arts Centre, Cookstown, 6-8 October 2000.

Come to the beautiful new Burnavon Arts and Cultural Centre to hear the best of traditional music from Tyrone, Derry, and Antrim, all of whom are supporting the legendary folksinger Eric Bogle. Saturday afternoon features children’s entertainment and workshops on uilleann pipes, singing, whistle and bodhran.

Contact: Lorna Niven, Tel: (028) 8674 8396.

Slieve Gullion Festival of Traditional Singing

Mullaghbawn, County Armagh, 6-8 October 2000.

Guardian of the precious tradition of unaccompanied singing, this festival is the year’s most important gathering of traditional singers from right across Britain, Scotland, and Ireland. More than 80 singers have been invited to the 19th annual festival, including Antaine Ó Faracháin, who sings in both Irish and English and who has researched and presented a television series on sean nós songs for Teilifis na Gaeilge; Theresa Hughes, winner on three occasions of the under-18 singing title at the Ulster Fleadh; and Pádraigín Ní Uallacháin, who sings mainly in the sean nós style and who has carried out extensive research on Gaelic songs in general and those of her native Oriel in south Ulster in particular.

Contact: Gerry O’Hanlon, Tel: (028) 3026 0668.

Eddy Duffy Memorial Festival

Derrygonnelly, Co. Fermanagh, 13-15 October 2000.

This annual festival celebrates the rich seam of traditional music and song from the Fermanagh-Leitrim district. Flute player, singer, and Derrygonelly native Cathal McConnell of the Boys of the Lough is featured this year, and is joined by an impressive line-up of flute players and fiddlers who are gathering for a special commemoration of the influential local fiddle player Mick Hoy, he passed away this year.

Contact: Liam Elliot, Tel: (028) 6864 1306.

Belfast Festival at Queen’s

Queen’s University, Belfast, 27 October to 12 November 2000.

This year’s festival is particularly strong in traditional music. One of the most significant events of the festival will be a collaboration between the legendary jazz musician Ornette Coleman and three of the finest young traditional musicians practising today, including Belfast’s own uilleann piper John McSherry. The Donegal-based group Altan return to the Whitla Hall, and the Folk Club in the Queen’s Senior Common Room will host a wealth of traditional music talent, including Cathal McConnell of the Boys of the Lough, Bothy Band founder-members Micheál O Dhomhnaill and Paddy Glackin, singer Sean Keane, and the cream of the new crop of traditional bands – Anam, Craobh Rua, Danu, and Providence.

Contact the Box Office, Tel: (028) 9066 5577.

William Kennedy Memorial Piping Festival

Marketplace Theatre, Armagh, 14-20 November 2000.

One of the most significant celebrations of piping in Europe, the festival features Northern Ireland’s own world reknowned players of the uilleann and highland pipes. Headlining this year are the Hungarian Bagpipe Orchestra and Anxo Lorenzo from Galicia, along with pipers from Scotland, Northumbria, and Italy. Contact: Brian Vallely, Tel: (028) 3751 1248.