The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
‘G’wan to Folk! Dingle all set to host Ireland’s newest music festival weekend
ANOTHER weekend, another festival, another irresistible line-up, and yet another reason to pay Dingle a visit.
This time, the town will hold Ireland’s newest music festival, ‘Dingle Folk Fest – Féile Cheoil na nDaoine’, the creation of which was first mooted three months ago in a chat between organiser Dara Herlihy and Matt Griffin.
“Matt and I first talked about this at the start of the summer,” Dara told The Kerryman.
“We put in the hard work, and with plenty of help from Matt, we’ve put together a great line-up that’ll be tuning up from Friday
“This is another celebration of the town’s musical tradition, everyone involved has a great love for music, and the town itself has passion for music; this has all the right ingredients for lovers of ceol.”
While this might be Dingle Folk Fest’s inaugural staging, its stellar line-up suggests it first steps will be the opposite of tentative.
Acts will be jotted around eight of the town’s pubs between Saturday and Sunday, weaving a musical trail to be enjoyed by all, while tickets can be purchased for its impressive headline events.
NellieFred’s will be the festival’s first-ever venue on Friday (October 14), hosting a craic-filled night to be headed from 7pm by the unique, high-octane ‘Breaking Trad’, who’ll be followed by the brilliant Scannal.
The festival’s biggest event might well be what’s slated for the Skellig Hotel from 7pm on Saturday, with the critically acclaimed Damien Dempsey set to be ably supported by Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, Karrie O’Sullivan, and Donogh Hennessy.
And the tunes won’t peter out until late on Sunday!
The doors of Siopa Ceoil in Daingin will open at 6.45pm for a performance by accordion player Seamus Begley and guitarist Steve Cooney, before Pólca 4 bring the festival to its conclusion at An Droichead Beag later that night.
Tickets for the Friday and Saturday night shows at Nelliefreds and the Skellig Hotel, as well as the Sunday gig at Siopa Ceoil an Daingin, can be obtained by phoning (086) 080 8448, or by visiting www. dinglefolkfestival.ie.
As the festival motto says, “G’wan to Folk!!!”