This article is from page 68 of the 2008-08-12 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 68 JPG
THERE was music ringing around the hills of east Clare last week as upwards of 6,000 people came to the town for the six days of events.
Workshops were high on the list this year for visiting musicians sing- ers and dancers.
Gary Pepper, one of the driving forces behind the annual Feakle event, said that enquiries about this year’s musical extravaganza came from all corners of the globe.
“We had people from Japan, which has happened before as there are a couple of local people married to Japanese people. We’ve had people on from the continent and this year
we’ve had enquiries from Denmark and Holland too.”
Every other sector dealing with US visitors has reported a complete slump this year and, said Gary, the festival is no different.
“We saw very few Americans. Other years, there would be a lot of them interested in traditional music, but they don’t seem to be travelling this year,” Gary
But for foreign visitors and Irish people alike, the six days of music proved to be a huge success.
It was officially opened last Wednesday and the organisers used the event to pay tribute to renowned local flute player Paddy O’Donogue. A well-respected musician and com-
poser Paddy recently released a cd of his music with his son Cyril.
Eurovision winner Eimear Quinn performed in the community cen- tre while the concert in St Mary’s Church featured Frankie Gavin and Roisin Elsafty.
TG4 Musician of the Year and lo- cal legend Martin Hayes together with Dennis Cahill were a big draw and the gala concert featured Ceide, Tulla favourite Andrew McNamara and Rob Stein. The workshops con- tinue to be very popular and attend- ance has increased yearly.
As well as the usual classes, for the first time this year, there were four new workshops, for whistle, begin- ner’s concertina, sean nos dancing
and a one-day workshop in tradition- al song writing.
And there was plenty for those who came to listen rather than perform music, with sessions all week in the marquee and in the bars.
“It went very well and we were pleased with the turnout. We’d ex- pected the biggest numbers ever and it’s great to see that the Feakle Fes- tival is getting a name in even more countries abroad,’ said Gary.