NYAH celebrates 13 years with bumper 'bridge Concert

Cavan’s long-established NYAH festival celebrates 13 years of bringing all that’s best in traditional music, song and dance to the Breffni County with a big weekend of events from April 29–May 1. It culminates in an all-star NYAH Celebration Concert in Butlersbridge Hall on the Sunday, in which accordion legend and headline act Jimmy McGreevy will be honoured with a NYAH Jig of Life award.

The NYAH programme will also feature pub sessions and radio shows, as well as workshops from experts in fiddle, accordion and singing (see below).

The not-to-be missed trad music spectacular in Butlersbridge on Sunday 1st May will feature a host of top-drawer acts, not least Jimmy MrGreevy himself, a Roscommon native who moved to Dublin in 1962, and was a star turn in the Killina Céilí Band while still in his early teens before going on to tour extensively with Comhaltas over the years in Britain, Europe and the USA.

Another brilliant double act performing on the night will comprise of four times all-Ireland fiddle champion Dylan Foley and top-rated button accordionist Dan Gurney, both of whom hail from New York, whose ‘Irish Music from the Hudson Valley’ (also featuring Alec Finn and Brian McGrath of De Danann) was one of the top CDs released last year. At 24, Foley has already been hailed as “one the finest Irish fiddlers of his generation”, being a “vibrant stylist” whose “impeccable and spirited” playing has entertained audiences across the US, Ireland and further afield, and who has featured on RTÉ and TG4 and shared stages with luminaries like Matt Molloy and Sharon Shannon

Box player Dan Gurney first picked up an accordion “by chance” in a toy store, but this inspired him to learn the music of Ireland from Galway-born concertina player Fr Charlie Coen, and he was later heavily influenced by master box players like Billy McComiskey and Joe Derrane as he perfected his art and picked up nine Fleadh Cheoil medals along the way. While living in Galway for a year in 2009 he played with the likes of Dolores Keane and Johnny Ringo McDonagh of De Danann, and he has gone on to feature on various radio broadcasts, concerts and festivals including the International Accordion Festival.

Well-known RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta broadcaster and flute player Neansaí Ní Choisdealbha will add her own inimitable touch of Connemara magic, while another great young feadóg mór specialist, Céin MacSuibhne from nearby Killeshandra, will be joined by John Wynne, an acknowledged maestro on the instrument along with members of the ‘Gatehouse’ band. These include all-Ireland winning vocalist Rachel Garvey and John and Jacinta McEvoy on fiddle and guitar/concertina respectively, as well as fiddler Eamon McGivney, all of whom all masters of the music.

Gatehouse are a newly-formed trad ensemble, and offer a mix of youth and experience while delivering exciting new arrangements inspired by the North Connaught tradition along with sprinklings of other influences. The band are centred around the two Johns —McEvoy, a renowned fiddler and noted composer of new tunes and Wynne, who is long established as one of the leading players and tutors of the North Connaught flute style.

The line up in a superb night’s entertainment that sees the NYAH set up camp in Butlersbridge for the first time also includes a long list of other great musicians, including the ‘High Ball’ group with talented local youngsters Oisin McCorry, Bronagh Sweeney, Mairead Bogue, Eimear Bogue, Patrick Gaffney, Daniel Brady, Ellen O’Brien and Eanna Moran.

Beloved Cavan lilter Seamus Fay will be young at heart as ever when he takes the stage, while the trios of Zoran Donohoe, Ellen Grant and Barry Conaty and of Patsy Hanly, John Carlos and Eileen O’Brien will prove that outstanding music can flow from musicians of every age.

And if all that’s not enough, the House Band of Philip Clarke, Fintan McManus, Paul McCorry and Savannah Donohoe will have toes tapping from the outset in what has all the hallmarks of a mighty show that gets going at 7.30pm sharp.

Tickets for the NYAH Celebration Concert are €10, but limited, and available only by contacting 086 234 2270 or emailing cavanmusiclive@gmail.com, and will not be on sale on the night at the door.

Sessions and Radio Shows

Leading up to the Celebration Concert will be a number of events over the weekend, starting out with a NYAH Comhaltas branch Welcome Session in the Kesh Bar, Cavan at 9pm on Friday, April 29.

The appetite for the finest in Irish music will be sharpened again on the Saturday morning, April 30, with a 10am Shannonside-Northern Sound Radio ‘Festival Special’ hosted by Charlie McGettigan, where NYAH Comhaltas members will perform to listeners across the region.

Later on Saturday the station will be back in trad mode when Martin Donohoe, the “Cavanman” himself, will be featuring many of the talented festival guests mentioned above in his two-hour ‘Wind That Blows’ show, from 6pm–8pm.

Workshops

Sunday, May1 starts off with Cavan Arts Office-supported Master-class workshops in the Backyard Arts Centre, Cavan, which will see expert fiddle tuition from Dylan Foley and useful button accordion tips from Dan Gurney, while Tyrone’s Cathal Lynch will be holding a class in traditional singing (all classes run from 3pm–5pm with a €10 fee, and must be pre-booked via 086 234 2270).

The NYAH is supported by Cavan Arts Office, Cavan Co Council, Comhaltas, Shannonside-Northern Sound Radio, RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, McQuaid Opticians, High Ball Bar Butlersbridge, Cavan Crystal Hotel and our kind American friends. Check NYAH Facebook page and WWW.CAVANARTS.IE for more.