Entertaining Sligo
HARVEST COUNTRY MUSIC FESTIVAL
This August an exciting new Country Music Festival will take place on 26 & 27 August. Harvest 2017 Country Music Festival will be 2 days of live entertainment, featuring 40 International and Irish acts across 4 different Music Stages. The festival will take on 26 & 27 August in Westport House Mayo, whilst at the same time that weekend it will be taking place at Enniskillen Airport.
The full line-up will be the same for both festival sites. The artists playing Westport House on the Saturday, will play Enniskillen on the Sunday and vice versa. Simply chose if you would like to attend Harvest in Westport or Enniskillen and buy a weekend ticket for that location to enjoy 2 days of great country music and fun (day tickets also available).
For more info see www.harvestcountrymusicfestival.com
CHERISH THE LADIES
Cherish the Ladies, the all female super group, will perform at the O’Carolan Harp Festival on Sunday, 6 th August, 2017 in St. Ronan’s Hall.
The group began a concert series in New York in January, 1985, the brainchild of Mick Moloney, who wanted to showcase the brightest female musicians in America in what had been a male dominated scene. The group took its name from a traditional Irish jig called ‘Cherish the Ladies’.
Their leader, Joanie Madden, was born in the Bronx, New York to Irish parents and is an all-Ireland champion on the flute and whistle.
She became the first American to win senior all-Ireland championship on the whistle in 1984. Since 1985, she has been the central force behind Cherish the Ladies, driving them to international acclaim.
Over the course of the past thirty three years, the band have played in the finest concert halls and have performed in North and South America, the U.K., Europe, New Zealand & Australia. They have played in the White House and at the Olympics.
The other members of the group are Mary Coogan from New York on guitar, Mirella Murray from Connemara on accordion, Grainne Murphy from Boston on fiddle and Kathleen Boyle from Glasgow on piano.
Their continued success as one of the top Celtic groups in the world is due to their ability to take the best of Irish traditional music and dance and present it in an immensely entertaining package. They are in constant demand worldwide as their reputation and admiration from both fans and critics alike continues to grow.
A night not to be missed in Keadue, tickets can be booked on line at www. ocarolanharpfestival.ie or by phone 087 2559269.
COOTEHILL ARTS FESTIVAL AND RESCUE 116 MEMORIAL CONCERT
The Festival Committee have been working tirelessly since it was decided to reform in April of this year. Cootehill Arts Festival was first established in 1988 and had great success and enjoyed great support and enthusiasm from the people of Cootehill and beyond, but sadly it faded away for various reasons.
With its unique blend of visual theatre, music and magic, Footsbarn Theatre Company, one of the world’s leading touring companies and renowned for their exciting adaptations of classics such as Shakespeare and Moliere, will be bringing their 400-seater circus big top to the festival this year.
On the bill, will be 2 performances of ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ on the 23rd and 24 th of August and 2 perfor- mances of a ‘Molliere Farce’ on the 26 th and 27 th of August.
On Friday 25 th August, there will be the Rescue 116 Memorial Concert, held in honour of the 4 crew who lost their lives off the coast of Mayo in March.
We felt this would be a fitting tribute to hold as Captain Dara Fitzpatrick’s family hail from Cootehill.
A special Memorial Programme is being printed with forewords from Prince William – himself a rescue helicopter pilot – and from president Michael D. Higgins.
The concert will be hosted by Ray D’Arcy, and performers will include Triona Marshall of The Chieftains, Martin Tourish, The Clew Bay Pipe Band, Janice Igoe, Declan O’Rourke, The Roscommon Solstice Choir, world champion Irish dancers, and other major stars yet to be announced. Money raised from this event is to be donated to the RNLI.
For the duration of the festival there will be a retrospective exhibition on the works of the late David Gallagher. David was born and raised in Camden, London and attended the Hornsey College of Art. He would later go on to teach in the comprehensive school in Cootehill.
The scope of David Gallagher’s work is wide in range and the exhibit will showcase some of his finest works, including sculpture, bronze and scrap metal, pottery, paintings and screen prints.
Throughout the week there will be many other events staged at venues around the town, including circus skills, art and theatre workshops, story-telling, poetry readings, photography exhibition and a Festival Miscellany.
A special exhibition of paintings from Annaghmakerrig, The Tyrone Guthrie Centre will be on display in the library throughout the Festival.
Visitors to the town will notice scarecrows appearing all over the place as Cootehill’s Scarecrow Competition is running concurrently with the Festival. There are generous cash prizes for first second and third.
Tickets for both Footsbarn and the Rescue 116 Memorial Concert are available now on Eventbrite.ie
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