ARTS Féile John McGrath in Westport

Celebrating Irish culture and heritage


The Cathair na Mart branch of Comhaltas Ceoltórí Éireann is hosting its second annual Féile this weekend, Friday and Saturday, April 15 and 16, to commemorate aspects of Mayo’s culture and heritage, including music, dance, language and folklore. This event is centred around the figure of John McGrath from Erris, a famous composer, fiddle-player and teacher of Irish music.
Féile John McGrath boasts a host of well-known speakers and musicians from the world of art and academia, including Vince Hearns, Nollaig Ó Muraíle, Clodagh Doyle, MícheΡl Ó Seighin and Caoimhín Mac Aoidh.
Vince Hearns is a Dubliner, born of Mayo parents, who lives at the foot of Knocknarea mountain on the southern shore of Sligo Bay.  He has been collecting and recording traditional Irish music for more than forty years and he currently produces and presents ‘Cois na Tine’, a programme of Irish traditional music and song on Ocean FM.
Mayo Person of the Year in 2005, Nollaig Ó Muraíle, is a native of Knock and a Doctor of Celtic Studies. For 20 years he worked as a Placenames’ Officer with the Ordnance Survey. He has written extensively and is currently working on an update of his first book, ‘Mayo Places: Their Names and Origins’.
Clodagh Doyle has been working with the Irish Folklife Collection of the National Museum since 1995 and she is a member of the curatorial team at the National Museum - Museum of Country Life, Castlebar. She has curated ten temporary and travelling exhibitions, including the very popular ‘Down Memory Lane – Childhood in the 1950s’.
MícheΡl Ó Seighin is a native of Gleann Bruachan, Co Limerick – an area rich in traditional music and song and the source of the great music collections of Joyce and Roche. He is a sean-nós singer of distinction and he grew up surrounded by music exemplified by the concertina-playing of his aunt, May Lee, who inherited her musical legacy from her father Joe Hurley.
Caoimhín Mac Aoidh is a noted fiddle player, author and broadcaster. He is a founder member of Cairdeas na bhFidléirí as well as being Director of the Irish Traditional Music Archive. While his main area of interest is in Donegal fiddle playing, he has a special interest in the history of the musical community of Chicago, particularly during the period of the compilation of the O’Neill Collections.
The Cathair na Mart branch of Comhaltas sees the Féile as a special opportunity to present the aims of CCÉ to a new generation and to re-brand Mayo culture in a new and exciting way, and that this strategy can be used as a model for the revival of local and regional styles in music, dance and language. With such an illustrious line-up of participants, it is undoubtedly on target to achieve that objective.
The Féile will take place on Friday and Saturday next, April 15 and 16, in Knockranny House Hotel, Westport. Tickets will be available at the door.