A WEEKEND CELEBRATING THE TRADITIONS OF SONGS & SINGING - FOLK SONGS FROM LAND & SEA

CARRIGALINE INTERNATIONAL MARITIME AND FOLK FESTIVAL From Friday 26^th to Sunday 28^th June.

So, what can we expect?

Shanties - the work songs that set the timing for every manual job on board the square-rigged sailing vessels of the 1800’s and during all weathers. Shanty’s have a global reach, from all the ports in world, from all nationalities and are great to sing along with. You need to get involved once they start!

Forebitters, were sea songs, not work songs, the songs the sailors sang when they were not on their watch, whaling, drinking, broken token ballads, battles at sea, baudy, and of course songs from the fishing trade.

The songs of the land include mining, historic, mid-winter and other seasonal songs, welcoming in the Summer, the Autumn, songs from rural traditions, wassailing, the wren and also songs of piracy and highway robbers, love, railway songs, prison songs and many more traditions. Many of the songs are sung in a Capella style, small groups singing in tight harmonies and of course, some will be accompanied.

As we get closer to the festival, excitement and expectations are building, both with the organising team and the visiting performers and with many of those planning to attend. Interest is growing, particularly with those who have a grá for folk music.

It is of course a real coup, to have attracted Maddy Prior of Steeleye Span fame with Andrew ‘Spud’ Sinclair also of Steeleye Span for the big concert on Sunday 28^th June. Maddy, often called the Queen of Folk Rock, has spent a lifetime singing, largely traditional songs, and remains one of the most influential voices in international folk music. Maddy and Steeleye Span transformed the face of folk music.  This is a ticketed concert in the Carrigaline Court Hotel and tickets (€28) are already available from the hotel, ‘Eventbrite’ and through the festival website: carrigalineinternationalmaritimeandfolkfestival.ie

This concert will also be supported by several other groups to give a flavour of the overall festival theme.

This weekend of song starts on Friday evening 26^th June, with a grand opening, when all the performers, seventy in all, come together to do a one-hour session in the hotel, exchanging song after song before splitting up to follow their weekend programme of songs in the pubs of Carrigaline: The Corner House, The Stable Bar, Mabel Lane, The Gaelic Bar and the Carrigaline Court Hotel, through Friday evening, and all day Saturday and Sunday from opening time to closing time, with additional open air sessions on the Festival Gig Rig in the central car park. The pub performances are all free to attend.

A special concert in The Inkwell Theatre on Saturday night in Minane Bridge, will feature five different groups from the festival who will provide an eclectic mix of songs from Land and Sea.

Tickets (€18) are now available on the website, and from 20^th May at the XL Shop in Minane Bridge and the Inkwell Theatre door.

The festival director, Pat Sheridan, a performer himself, who sang with Garland, The Press Gang, Warp Four, Liam Clancy and Fastnet, said “What I like about folk festivals is the fact that there is something genuine and authentic about the singing. Not just because its live, but because of its traditional authenticity. Generally, you get to hear the old songs, sometimes with new interpretations and arrangements, but you know that the roots of the song and the story are still present, perhaps with a tenuous link back through history, sometimes to an unknown origin, but the beauty of the poetry and tune retains its emotion and legitimacy.

Listening to some modern recorded material classed as folk music it seemed to me to have lost some of the nuances of tradition and storytelling. While the shift from the very traditional, to the folk-rock groups of the sixties and seventies, was an eye opener for the purists, many realised that apart from a creative approach with electric instruments, drums and sound management, something fascinating had emerged, and without diminishing traditional storytelling, which is basically what folk songs are all about, the music enhancing the story and reaching out in a new way to our emotions and integration with the story and story teller. In fact, that creative shift, kick started a renewed interest in the whole folk genre. 

Of course, this did nothing to halt the traditional singing, accompanied or unaccompanied, such as Sean Nos, which has its own particular following. If anything, it probably had a positive impact and without any loss to folk culture. We have singer song-writers today who retain the great story telling ability in their work and also have the ability to let us hear their words without crossing the bridge into popular music, where the nuances of the story are often lost in gimmicks, artificially generated sound, disjointed sound bites and story abbreviation.

We are lucky, and I would say, even privileged, to have a wide range of performers coming to the Carrigaline International Maritime and Folk Festival this June, that span the range of creativity, tradition and credibility mentioned here, who can, and regularly do, deliver their wide repertoires with clarity and feeling while entertaining international audiences at festivals and folk clubs worldwide. This is evident in their profiles listed on the festival’s website. Whether you have a specific or passing interest in folk music, the songs and tunes from land and sea, harmony or tradition accompanied or unaccompanied, be prepared for a first-class weekend of entertainment and the craic.