Shandrum band and sean nós sensation for St Patrick’s fest
THE Shandrum Ceili Band, led by the gifted Buttevant traditional musician Alan Finn, will be among the 300 artists participating in this year’s virtual St. Patrick’s Day Fest on a dedicated television channel on their website SPF TV from March 12-17.
The theme of the festival is Dúisigh Éire (Awaken Ireland) in which they invite people to throw off the dark days we have endured through the pandemic, and rise to embrace the brighter days ahead.
The Shandrum band’s performance, which was commissioned by the St. Patrick’s Fest, was filmed by Kanturk’s Cal Callaghan of On Track Film Company, at Doneraile Park. The house and estate are the former home of the St. Leger family and now one of the most popular parkland amenities in the country that is visited by thousands of people each year.
The band will also be joined by Sean Nós dancer Cian Broderick from Rockchapel.
The three times winners of the CCE All-Ireland Ceilí Band Competition, the award laden Shandrum Ceili Band has released a number of albums, among them the Boss Murphy Music Collection, which is the music from the North Cork area that was collected by the Churchtown native, who was born in Leap, Churchtown, and was known as Boss Murphy.
His grandson, Gerry Murphy of Churchtown, in collaboration with Dr. Colette Moloney of Charleville, published a collection of the music from Boss Murphy’s handwritten notes. The tunes were arranged by Alan Finn for recording by his Shandrum Ceilí Band for the album, which was launched in 2019. Some of these tunes will be featured in the band’s performance from Doneraile Park.
Both Alan Finn and the Shanrdum Ceili Band are no strangers to Charleville, where Alan was a tutor with the now defunct Craobh An Rath Comhaltas branch. The Shandrum were also featured at many concerts in the Charleville Park Hotel. The band is well-known all over Ireland, and indeed beyond these shores, for their scintillating performances of traditional Irish music.
So is Cian Broderick, the teenage sean nós dance sensation from Rockchapel. An All-Ireland medal winner in his own right, Cian performed with his Offbeat Traditional group at the concert headlined by the world famous Goodwick Brass Band who were guests of Charleville Heritage Society in 2019 at the Charleville Park Hotel.
As a result of that performance, Cian and the group received an invitation to perform at the Goodwick Band’s annual performance at St. David’s Cathedral in St. David’s in Wales. Cian’s dancing and the group’s traditional Irish music brought the 1,000 strong audience to their feet in the ancient Cathedral.
Cian is renewing his association with the band and has danced with the Shandrum Band on numerous occasions at their performances in the local area, including at Churchtown, the home of Boss Murphy.
This performance of the Shandrum Ceili Band along with the exciting dancing of Cian Broderick promises to be one of the highlights of the St. Patrick’s Festival which will be showcasing the very best of Irish entertainers, including poets, musicians of various genres, and other artistic performers, and will be a welcome substitution for the annual St. Patrick’s Day activities, which have to be suspended due to the current circumstances.