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Peak performers in the Catskill peaks

February 17, 2011

By Staff Reporter

“Last year, despite surging gas prices and early signs of an economic slowdown, we still had a strong turnout for the summer school,” Keating said. “This year we’re feeling the bite of the economy. Our registrations are a little slower and harder to come by. But overall, we’ve seen substantial growth in recent years.”
Grant money has helped, especially from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, Culture Ireland, and Greene Tourism. “We couldn’t run our programs at the level we do without that support,” Keating admitted.
But CIAW relies principally on summer school tuition, Saturday festival admissions, and other non-grant income to maintain the event’s vitality and growing international appeal. The recent demise of ICONS (Irish Connections) in Canton, Mass., and the Cape Cod Celtic Festival serves as a warning of how perilous the U.S. recession can be for any Irish festival or school, no matter how attractive its programming may be.
At a time when several other Irish summer music and dance schools have contracted to survive, CIAW has expanded to thrive. “We’ve increased the whole lecture concept, and our late night, listening room sessions, which feature our instructors, have proved to be very popular,” Keating said. “People choose to come to East Durham for all or part of the Catskills Irish Arts Week because they know the quality is very high.”
Adding fresh appeal this year will be Len Graham, Patricia Flynn, and 82-year-old Mick Quinn, who will tap into the deep reservoir of Northern Ireland’s singing tradition, including original songs by Quinn. “In 2007, I saw them at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C., that focused on Northern Ireland,” Keating said, “and I thought our Catskill audience should get the chance to see and hear them perform.” Graham and Flynn will also teach during the week.
Other performers new to CIAW this year include fiddler Antoin Mac Gabhann, set-dancing teacher Tony Ryan, and uilleann piper Michael “Blackie” O’Connell, who was a student of the late Maureen Glynn Connelly in Ennis, Clare.
On Mon. afternoon, July 13, in Weldon House, filmmaker Pat Mullins, whom I interviewed and profiled in my June 3 “Ceol” column, will be showing and discussing his superb documentary “From Shore to Shore: Irish Traditional Music in New York City.”
On Tuesday, July 14, the music of County Cavan will be showcased, and fiddler Eileen O’Brien Minogue, daughter of the great Tipperary button accordionist Paddy O’Brien (1922-91), will launch a new book about her father. (Note of disclosure: I wrote a brief entry in it.)
On Wed., July 15, in Weldon House, Don Meade, who organizes concerts at New York University’s Glucksman Ireland House, will speak about flutist Mike Rafferty of Ballinakill, East Galway, and Hasbrouck Heights, N.J., and that night Mike Rafferty and Willie Kelly’s brilliant CD, “The New Broom,” will be spotlighted at a listening room session in Bernie O’s that will include both musicians.
On Thursday, July 16, from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. in Weldon House, I will be giving a lecture on pivotal Irish and Irish American women in Irish traditional music “herstory” from the late 19th century up to today. In my presentation I’ll be citing several instructors at CIAW, including Mary Bergin filmed playing tin whistle on the deck of a fishing boat on Galway Bay decades ago. In the evening of July 16, the much-anticipated launch of the “Pride of New York” album by Joanie Madden, Brian Conway, Billy McComiskey, and Brendan Dolan will take place in the Shamrock House. (Note of disclosure: I wrote an essay in the CD booklet.)
On Friday, July 17, in Weldon House, Brendan Dolan will draw on his M.A. thesis at NYU for a lecture on Irish music in the Catskills, and in the Shamrock House, Dublin-born, Queens resident button accordion master James Keane will link with fiddler Antoin Mac Gabhann for some spirited talk and tunes.
Also on July 17, between 7:30 and 9:30 p.m., a special tribute to Galway button accordionist Joe Madden (1938-2008), Joanie’s father, will be held in the roofed, open-sided pavilion of the Quill Festival Grounds. A promised highlight will be a group fronted by accordions in memory of Joe Madden. Afterward, Girsa, based in Pearl River, N.Y., and described by Keating as “among the fresh new faces in traditional music,” will have a CD launch at Gavin’s.
Instructors during the week include fiddlers Seamus Connolly, Liz and Yvonne Kane, Matt Cranitch, Willie Kelly, Brian Conway, Rose Conway Flanagan, and Eileen O’Brien Minogue; button accordionists Jackie Daly, Donal Murphy, Billy McComiskey, and Damien Connolly; flutists Catherine McEvoy, June McCormack, Mike Rafferty, Joanie Madden, and Mike McHale; whistle players Brendan Dolan, Margie Mulvihill, Mary Bergin, and Mike McHale; pianist Felix Dolan; piano accordionist Jimmy Keane; harper Michael Rooney; concertinists Charlie Coen, Gearoid O hAllmhurain, and Edel Fox; and dancers Donny Golden, Kieran Jordan, and John Shields.
Weekdays will offer music and dance classes, lectures and master classes, evening concerts, ceilidhs, and listening room sessions. And on Sat., July 18, the Andy McGann Music and Dance Festival will run from noon to 7 p.m.
Come well rested to CIAW. You won’t leave that way. I speak from experience.
For more information, visit www.irishvillageusa.com, call 518-634-2286, or e-mail irishartsweek@gmail.com.

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