My wife and I are planning to go to ireland next year, possibly for Willie Week. I’m wondering about what other events there are that we might consider, near to WW timewise or not. I know about the Crotty, Galvin, and Doran weekends. Anyone have other recommendations?
I had a great time several years ago at the Feakle Festival in East Clare. Typically it is held over one of the first weekends in August and includes a couple of days of daytime classes, some afternoon lectures and sessions, and evening concerts and dances on Friday and Saturday nights. It’s kind of a smaller version of Willie Week, without the crowds and especially without the unwelcome visitors who are not there for the music but instead just to get drunk and get rowdy. The Feakle area is homeland to the great concertina player Mary MacNamara as well as Martin Hayes and his extended family, the Tulla Ceili Band, so they are always a strong presence during the festival. But there always seems to be a strong lineup in addition to the local favorites. Check out their website at http://www.feaklefestival.ie to see who they have booked for this year, and you also can look back over their programs for the past 20 years there. I think you will be impressed at the great lineups they bring in year after year. If you get into town a day or two before the festival, you can catch the regular weekly session at Peppers Bar, which was home to PJ Hayes and his Tulla Band mates for some 50 years.
The year I went to Feakle, I also went to the Mrs Crotty weekend in Kilrush, which was just a week later. I was much more impressed with Feakle, to tell the truth.
I had a great time a few years ago at the South Sligo Summer School in Tubbercurry. It runs July 15-21 this year. It’s much in the Willie Week mode too, but smaller and much, much mellower. More older players around – I had the fortune to spend a wonderful evening in a session with Peter Horan and several other excellent players of his generation – and also more children and teens.
There’s supposed to be a website at http://www.sssschool.org, but it seems to be down at the moment.
I’ve also heard really good things about the Joe Mooney Summer School in Drumshanbo, Co. Leitrim, but I’ve never been there.
There’s the Fleadh Nua in Ennis at the end of May (I caught the tail end of it this year). Not exactly small, but probably not as big as Willie Week. Ennis is a great town for music any time of year.
I was interested in the Rory Gallagher tribute festival in Ballyshannon, at about the same time of year, but couldn’t get there.
If you are looking for a small, intimate festival I would recommend the Phil Murphy Weekend in Carrick-on-Bannow in County Wexford. In addition to the pub sessions there are concerts each night as well as workshops and other events. It is generally on the last weekend in July.http://www.philmurphyweekend.com/