Email Newsletter – 22 November 2024
Included in this email:
Return to London Town Festival 2024 – Feedback Form – Help gratefully received :_)
Well! What a weekend we had [❤️]
Huge thanks to everyone who came out to make London's 26th Festival of traditional Irish music, song and dance (Return to London Town) so
great - our wonderful artists, tutors, sessioneers, audience, volunteers, hotel staff, sponsors, funders, partners, venues and more. Plenty of
Festival memories to share over the coming weeks and months.
27th Festival dates are: Fri 24th - Mon 27th October 2025 (put them in the diary!)
But in the meantime, if anyone has a spare moment, we would be really grateful if you could please fill out one of our online feedback forms- it
helps us report back to our funders and improve where needed. Hope your recovery is going well.
Thanks in advance Kx
https://forms.gle/WKnY88Ca2jTLEXEr6
Saturday 7 December 2024
IMDL presents in Concert:
Eileen O'Brien, Jackie Daly, Anne Conroy-Burke, Mary Conroy, Geraldine Cotter
The Crown (Sala Room), 142-152 Cricklewood Broadway, London NW2 3ED
Tickets (£22.50/ £7 U18s) available at:
https://imdl.giftpro.co.uk/events/concert-eileen-obrien-jackie-daly-anne-conroy-burke-mary-conroy-geraldine-cotter-irish-music/
Eileen O’Brien (Tipperary) is the bearer of a family musical tradition spanning generations of her family. She is the daughter of Paddy
O’Brien accordionist, composer and teacher. Eileen’s mother Eileen Seery was a member of the musical Seery family from Westmeath and
Dublin. Eileen has spent her musical life promoting and passing on traditional music to future generations through performance, teaching,
compositions, publications and recordings. Eileen has won All- Ireland titles in fiddle, slow airs and in ensemble competitions ie duets, trios
and ceili bands. She has taught and performed all over the world. Publications and recordings include: The Compositions of Paddy O’Brien
1922-1991. Solo fiddle albums: The Fiddler’s Choice, Aon le hAon, Newtown bridge. Albums produced by Eileen: Paddy O’Brien solo
recordings,(2022) the Banks of the Shannon (remastered) 2022 and Gléas by The Borúma Trio
Born and raised in the area known as Sliabh Luachra, Jackie Daly (Cork) is one of the foremost living exponents of the distinctive music of that
region. Among his early musical influences were his father, a melodeon (one-row accordion) player, and local fiddler Jim Keeffe, under whose
tutelage he began playing at "crossroads dances". After working in the Dutch merchant navy for several years, Daly decided to become a
professional musician on returning to Ireland in the early 1970s. In 1974 he won the All-Ireland Accordion Competition in Listowel, County
Kerry. To qualify, he was obliged to play a B/C instrument, at the time the only system sanctioned by the competition organizers, but
immediately afterwards returned to his chosen C#/D system. In 1977, his first solo recording was released by Topic Records of London as
volume 6 of their Music from Sliabh Luachra series. Daly´s musical career is notable for partnerships with several fiddlers, beginning with
Séamus Creagh. Their 1977 album, Jackie Daly agus Séamus Creagh, brought Sliabh Luachra music to a wider audience and, with its tight
unison playing, set the standard for future accordion and fiddle recordings.
Anne Conroy Burke is a highly respected musician and accordion teacher from East Galway. Ireland. Having performed music for many years
throughout her lifetime, Anne has a deep and natural understanding of the music, having listened and learned first to the rich tradition of her
native county, having fond memories of her father taking her to hear Paddy Carty, flute player and the many greats who came to join him in
Moylan`s and Delaney`s bars, Loughrea and later to the many fine musicians she met on her world travels and tours. She regularly teaches
music at her home and at summer schools/workshops. She plays a 2 row B/C accordion system and her classes are always with her
encouragement and sense of fun! For the past few years she regularly Co Hosts the annual" Accordion Recital" with Jackie Daly, at the Scoil
Samhraidh Willie Clancy Week, in Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare.
Mary Conroy´s distinctive voice and range of repertoire, plus her unique style of guitar accompaniment and knowledge of traditional Irish
music makes her much in demand. Recordings with, include: John Bowe (button accordion), Rodger Sherlock (flute), Mick Woods (flute),
Kevin Taylor (piano accordion & piano). Mary has been a music presenter with Radio Kerry since 1990, her current programme "Tog Sos" runs
on Mondays from 8-10pm.
A retired lecturer in Music Education at Mary Immaculate College in Limerick, Geraldine Cotter features regularly on TV, most recently on
TG4’s Snugcheol and Slí na mBeaglaoich. In 2019, along with her brother Eamonn, she was the subject of the TG4 documentary Sé Mo Laoch.
Geraldine has contributed to the documentaries Céard an Cheoil, Canúintí, Geantrai and Gradam Cheoil TG4. In 2017 she was presented with
the MÓRglór Award, for outstanding contribution to traditional music in Co Clare. Geraldine features on over 30 albums including her debut
solo album Piano+ Her publications include Transforming Tradition: Irish Traditional Music in Ennis Co. Clare 1950-1980 (2016), Rogha-
Geraldine Cotter’s Choice (2008), Geraldine Cotter’s Tin Whistle Tutor (Ossian Publications, 1983) and Seinn an Piano (Ossian Publications,
1996) – which was the first-ever tutor for Irish traditional music for piano. She has contributed articles to The Art of Place: People and
Landscape of County Clare, The Companion to Irish Traditional Music and Encyclopaedia of Music in Ireland. Geraldine earned her PhD from
Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick. Her research interests include: teaching and learning of Irish traditional
music, teachers as bridge builders between schools and community, community formation and learning in social contexts. She teaches and
performs regularly at summer schools and events internationally such as the Willie Clancy Summer School, the Catskills Irish Art Week,
Rencontre Musicale Irlandais in France and Masters of Tradition Bantry House. She is a member of the Boruma Trio and Shaskeen. She also
performs with the Irish Concertina Ensemble and the Performing Landscapes Collective. She has performed with musicians such as Peadar
O’Loughlin, Maeve Donnelly, Eileen O’Brien, Martin Hayes, Liz Carroll, Joanie Madden, Cherish the Ladies and Joe Burke.
27th - 30th November at Sadler's Wells Theatre
Information and Tickets: https://www.sadlerswells.com/whats-on/michael-keegan-dolan-teac-damsa-nobodaddy/
Teaċ Daṁsa, the Dance and Theatre company based in Ireland’s West Kerry Gaeltacht bring together familiar and new collaborators to make
NOBODADDY. An original work inviting audiences and performers on a journey to quieten some of the tyrannies that arrest us.
Led by choreographer and Sadlers Wells Associate Artist, Michael Keegan-Dolan in collaboration with renowned folk singer Sam Amidon and
an international company of dancers and musicians, NOBODADDY will confront the flat-line experience of cynicism, manipulation,
exploitation and violence.
Irish music events at Irish Cultural Centre, Hammersmith:
Sat 23, Sun 24 November: Seán Keane at ICC
Thurs 18 November: Imlé (information re special promo code below)
Sat 30 November: Breaking Trad at ICC
Sun 1 December: Remembering Kevin Boyle at ICC
Full details and tickets at: www.irishculturalcentre.co.uk
EVENT LINK:
https://irishculturalcentre.co.uk/event/imle/
When: Thursday 28 November 2024
[⏰] Doors & foyer session: 7pm | Main Stage Show Starts: 7.30pm
Join us at The Irish Cultural Centre, Hammersmith for an exhilarating evening of new Irish music, headlined by the pioneering Irish language
act IMLÉ—the creative force behind Netflix’s BODKIN theme—fusing Irish, hip-hop, and folk like never before.
In support, experience the rising talents of FYNCH, a standout act at Ireland Music Week 2024 nominated by Dermot Kennedy, and BLÁNID,
celebrated as one of Whelan’s Ones to Watch and featured in Netflix’s The Witcher. Don’t miss this chance to explore the vibrant landscape of
contemporary Irish sounds!
We'll even have some of London's best young trad musicians playing a session in the foyer beforehand, so it's going to be a truly terrific night!
We would be delighted to offer exclusive £10 tickets (instead of full price) as a promotion to the Irish music community.
Please use the code IMLE10
Information regarding year-round events is available at www.irishmusicinlondon.org
Facebook: @IMDLEvents, Instagram: @irishmusicdanceinlondon, X: @IMDLEvents
IMDL would like to thank its funders, sponsors and partners for their support throughout the year:
Emigrant Support Programme, Culture Ireland, Ireland Funds of Great Britain, Irish Youth Foundation, Flannery Plant Hire Ltd, Ashford Place, Embassy Demolition, Ardmore Group, The Irish World, The Irish Post.
