FLEADH TV TRAIN ROLLS INTO DROGHEDA STATION!
ALL rail lines and roads will lead to Drogheda soon, as the Fleadh TV train pulled into McBride station last Tuesday.
TG4 presenter Hector Ó hEochagáin was on hand to launch the annual television channel which airs in the lead up to and during the annual traditional music festival, showcasing the best of what is on offer,
He brought with him the new presenting team which will broadcast live from the Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann in August, when Drogheda stages it for the first time.
And he says Drogheda won’t know what hit it when the crowds descend on the town!
“Ennis was incredible last year, there were about 120,000 people on the Saturday afternoon, family, kids, so many tourists who came in, French, German, Spanish, Americans, so many nationalities who all love traditional music and love the vibe,” said the ebullient broadcaster.
“The festival is getting bigger and bigger and Fleadh TV is making it cooler and cooler – think Glastonbury meets trad music – and when they close off the street to a couple of hundred thousand people, and you have the music and the weather, well it’s going to be spectacular.”
The team spent the morning checking out the locations from where Fleadh TV will broadcast during the festival, including around Scotch Hall and the d Hotel.
Hector says he likes the look of the show, it’s going to be a really big production, and he thinks it will look a million dollars.
“We’re going to light up the docks area, the music will be the best of the best from world renowned musicians and the under 16s, 14s and 12s champions who have just won all-Ireland titles,” he adds.
“And that’s the beauty of the Fleadh, those kids who won or didn’t make the final are rubbing instruments and shoulders with the finest musicians in the country. You wouldn’t get that in any other genre of music.”
Local musicians Ciara Brannigan, Grainne Casey and Aoife McEvoy, and dancer Aisling Clinton, were on hand to welcome the crew into the station with some traditional tunes.
Hector’s co-presenters are new to the screens but not to the trad scene.
Musician Doireann Ni Ghlacain is trad royalty, given she is Sean O’Riada’s granddaughter, and Ruth Smith and Aindrias de Staic have been steeped in Fleadh’s since they could talk.
“I am so excited to be involved in Fleadh TV this year, as the festival in an institution in Ireland, and we’ll be able to give viewers a backstage experience to the performances in Drogheda as they happen,” says Galway musician Ruth, host of RTÉ Radio One’s Simply Folk.
“And I’ll be coming live from the provincial Fleadh’s from around the country in the lead up to the main event here in Drogheda in August,” adds Aindrias, also a veteran of trad music in his native Mayo.
Fleadh Cheoil na Éireann Drogheda 2018 takes place from 12th-19th August and Fleadh TV airs on TG4 throughout June, July and August,