Comhaltas Night at Arts Centre

A centre-piece of Wexford’s St Patrick’s weekend entertainment line-up will be the Comhaltas Cabaret night at Wexford Arts Centre at 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 18. Craobh Loch Garman, the Wexford town branch of Comhaltas, has been working on the event for weeks and they are delighted with how it is shaping up. Fear an Tí for the night, Padraic Larkin, says that the occasion offers an opportunity to showcase some of the best traditional and folk music talent in the county. ‘Expect a lively mix of music, song and dance mixed through with a liberal sprinkling of poetry and storytelling. This is good old-style entertainment with a modern twist.’ The honour of opening proceedings goes to five very young dancers from Ceoltóirí Munna who will dance, sean nós style, to a hornpipe. Una, Erin, Katie, Sonia and Dawn this is your moment to shine! A highlight of the show is sure to be songwriter and guitarist / banjo player Fergal O’Hanlon who will be playing tunes from his forthcoming solo album. The organisers are also thrilled to have multiple Fleadh Cheoil winner Amanda Kehoe. Apart from her solo set the popular musician and singer is looking forward to sharing the stage with Fergal for a few tunes. One man able to quieten a crowd in seconds with the virtuosity of his banjo and accordion playing is musical heavyweight Davy Roche. While Davy rips through his set the advice to younger players is to look, listen and learn! Clonroche uileann piper Éanna Harrington has cooked up a tasty collaboration with poet Deirdre McGarry which, we are told, focuses on the music of the blind harper Turlough O’ Carolan. He will be joined, later in the show, by fiddler Alice Wickham, accordion player Barbara Walsh, young harpist Una Walsh, guitarist/singer James McIntyre, bodhrán ace Helen McLoughlin, and others. The show starts at 8 p.m.