The Next Generation of local trad talent takes centre stage

THE feast of trad music continues over the weekend in Drogehda, featuring the best in local talent. Tlate gig on Saturday will in the Droichead Arts Centre at 8.30pm featuring The Next Generation – tickets priced €10.

This traditional singing concert will feature Feilimí O’Connor, Cathal O’Neill and Stuart Carolan and will be followed by an open session which will be hosted by a group of young singers from Dublin and beyond who in the last number of years set up their own monthly singing club in the Cobblestone, Smithfield under the title “The Night that Larry was Stretched.”

Feilimí O’Connor, from Dundalk, is a member of the wellknown musical family. In recent years he has taken to sean-nós singing and follows in the footsteps of his late mother Eithne Ní Uallacháin.

Cathal O’Neill is the grandson of the late Sarah-Ann O’Neill and grand-nephew of Geordie Hanna who were two of the finest exponents of the Ulster singing tradition.

Stuart Carolan also comes from a strong singing tradition going back several generations to at least his great-grandfather if not beyond. His grandmother Mary Ann Carolan, née Usher was from Tenure in the parish of Monasterboice. She made her first solo LP at the age of 80. Stuart has been singing for many years in Drogheda and at various festivals in the country and has also performed in folk clubs in Scotland and London.

Gerry O’Connor will launch his album ‘Last Night’s Fun’ on Sunday 25th at 2pm in Droichead Arts Centre. Long known as Gerry ‘Fiddle’ O’Connor, this is one fiddler whose pulse is quickened by the sheer delight in the tunes. As a fourth-generation fiddle player, he knows the value of the shared tune. On this his 2nd solo recording,

Finally the annual singing session this year takes place at 4.30pm in the Droichead cafe bar on Sunday. Singers and listeners are all welcome to this free event.