CCÉ qualifying competitions at Manhattan

By Earle Hitchner

How can you compete for an All-Ireland title? If you’re from the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Southern U.S. or from Eastern Canada, you still have time to try.

Beginning at 10 a.m. on Sunday, June 3, qualifying competitions in various categories (solo and group, instrumental and vocal, clustered by age) will take place under the sponsorship of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann’s Mid-Atlantic Region at its Fleadh Cheoil at Manhattan College in the Bronx. First- and second-place winners get the opportunity to compete at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, CCÉ’s biggest event, which will be held this year in Listowel, Co. Kerry, Aug. 24-26.

For further information, contact Terry Rafferty, Fleadh Secretary, 229 Baldwin Ave., Hasbrouck Heights, NJ 07604, (201) 288-4267, traff5788@aol.com, or Ira Goldman, Fleadh chairman, 29 Marshall Rd., Yonkers, NY 10705-2531, (914) 476-9385, fleadhcheoil@email.com. For overnight accommodations at Manhattan College, contact Deirdre Danaher or Paul Keating at (201) 722-0059 before May 25.

Another part of the Mid-Atlantic Region’s Fleadh Cheoil weekend will be a céilí mór, scheduled from 8 p.m. to midnight on Saturday, June 2, on the all-wood dance floor of the Polish Center, Nepperhan Avenue and Walnut Street, Yonkers, N.Y. Music will be provided by the Táin Céilí Band, senior All-Ireland champions the last three years, who include concertinist/accordionist Mícheál Ó Raghallaigh, a founding member of the Dublin-based band Providence, and flutist Catherine McEvoy, who’s recorded with New York pianist Felix Dolan.