• Home
  • About
    ▹
    • About Kilfenora
    • History
    • The Burren
    • Music
    • Kilfenora Ceili Band
    • Father Ted
    • Kilfenora Timeline
    • Kilfenora Time Capsule
    • Farming
    • Sport
  • News
  • Events
    ▹
    • Kilfenora Trad Festival 2023
    • Past Events
      ▹
      • Heritage events in Kilfenora in August
      • Kilfenora Trad Festival 2022
  • Visit Us
    ▹
    • Visit Us
    • Kilfenora
    • Kilfenora Cathedral & Crosses
    • Holy Well
    • Around Kilfenora
    • Walking and Cycling
  • Facilities
    ▹
    • Facilities Overview
    • Resources
    • Accommodation
  • Kilfenora Community
    ▹
    • Kilfenora Development
      ▹
      • Kilfenora Development News
    • Kilfenora Tidy Towns
      ▹
      • Kilfenora Tidy Towns News
    • Kilfenora Sustainable Energy Community
      ▹
      • Kilfenora Sustainable Energy Community News
  • Find Us
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Kilfenora

Kilfenora

The Home of Traditional Ceili Music and The Gateway to the Burren

The Home of Traditional Céilí Music and The Gateway to the Burren

  • Home
  • About
    • About Kilfenora
    • History
    • The Burren
    • Music
    • Kilfenora Ceili Band
    • Father Ted
    • Kilfenora Timeline
    • Kilfenora Time Capsule
    • Farming
    • Sport
  • News
  • Events
    • Kilfenora Trad Festival 2023
    • Past Events
      • Heritage events in Kilfenora in August
      • Kilfenora Trad Festival 2022
  • Visit Us
    • Visit Us
    • Kilfenora
    • Kilfenora Cathedral & Crosses
    • Holy Well
    • Around Kilfenora
    • Walking and Cycling
  • Facilities
    • Facilities Overview
    • Resources
    • Accommodation
  • Kilfenora Community
    • Kilfenora Development
      • Kilfenora Development News
    • Kilfenora Tidy Towns
      • Kilfenora Tidy Towns News
    • Kilfenora Sustainable Energy Community
      • Kilfenora Sustainable Energy Community News
  • Find Us

News

Celebration of Irish Dance, Kilfenora, Friday 21 April

On Friday April 21 as part of the Kilfenora Traditional Music Festival 2023 (7.30pm, at Kilfenora Community Hall) a concert will celebrate talented young dancers and musicians. The dance schools of two notable dance teachers will be particularly featured.

Aibhin Ní Chodhlán is a highly successful step-dance teacher and accomplished dancer from Kilfenora. Pupils at her Céim ar Chéim School of Sean Nós dance regularly compete at the top level, frequently emerging as winners at competitions such as at the Oireachtas na Samhna and Fleadh Cheoil. She and her pupils have performed with the celebrated Kilfenora Céilí Band on multiple occasions. Accordionist Mark Burke from Ennistymon will provide the music.

Karine Luçon from Brittany leads the Avalon Celtic Dance company (est 2004) and is a principal dance teacher at the Nantes Irish Dancing Academy. She has taught Irish dancing since 1995 – including workshops in Clare – and was the first French dancer to attain TMRF céilí dance accreditation from the Irish Dancing Commission (CLRG). Her troupes perform at major festivals and feature Irish dance world champions. An expert bodhran player as well as dancer, she has played in many bands as well as performing with her dance troupes. Music accompaniment will be provided by her son Francois Luçon (uillean pipes) and 3 locally based musicians – Caiomhe McMahon (fiddle), Charlie le Brun (flute) and Aoife Kelly (concertina, whose famous family music tradition stretches back generations). Dancers appearing come from Belfast, Dublin, Kerry and Brittany.

There will be additional musical contributions featuring local talent, including Rachel Reid and her pupils from the Anam Cara School of Music in Lisdoonvarna. Thanks to all those providing their services for free.

This is a community, not-for-profit concert. Ticket prices are just €10 and €5 for under-12s. Tickets are available on the door. Come promptly to be sure to get in!

Karine Luçon & Avalon Celtic Dance
Aibhin Ní Chodhlán and Céim ar Chéim

Clare Local Development – have your say

It is extremely rare for public bodies to undertake thorough local consultation. (They tend to use consultants and/or surveys, and generally keep their distance.) But this is exactly what Clare Local Development Company is doing this April – see their website here.

Kilfenora is first on the list of eight locations in Clare where CLDC is inviting local residents to help them devise their plan of activities for 2023-17. (See below if you are not aware of what CLDC is and does.) Note that Kilfenora has benefitted from CLDC support over the years – for example they have funded enhancements to the Burren Centre such as the Kilfenora Céilí Band Parlour and the current improvement works at the front part of the building.

On Tuesday 4 April CLDC is running a consultation workshop open to ALL residents in Kilfenora, from 7-9pm in Kilfenora Community Hall. They want to hear our ideas on how to make Clare a better place for all, in which to live, work and socialise, and of course we can state what we feel is important for our particular area.

The format is simple. After a 10-minute overview by CLDC (and a 6-minute case study video), participants will break into groups facilitated by a CLDC staff member to discuss priorities to be included in the next LEADER plan.

Even if you don’t have a particular bee in your bonnet about what needs improving, please come and join the discussion in what should be a stimulating occasion – participate in letting Kilfenora’s voice be heard.

About CLDC
The mission of CLDC is to support – through advice and project funding- social inclusion, enterprise, rural and community development, both from its own resources and in collaboration with other agencies. Formed 21 years ago, CLDC employs over 200 people on a wide range of programs and schemes such as LEADER, SICAP (Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme) Local Training Initiatives, Rural Social Scheme, Community Employment Scheme and Rural Recreation Project and Tús.

Its ethos is inclusive and community led – building the capacity of people and communities to address their own development needs; and working in partnership with community groups and other local bodies to deliver the best outcomes for the county.

Meeting in Ogonelloe about a Community Cafe

Launch of Energy Survey and Masterplan

Communities across Ireland are getting organised to improve they way they source and use energy. Soaring prices combined with the environmental issues are obvious reasons. Also, advances in technology and developing community energy sharing schemes offer new opportunities to save money as well as the planet. This work is supported nationally by SEAI and in Clare by CLDC.

Lisdoonvarna and Doolin are already working on energy plans, and other communities in North Clare are also starting – with the intention of collaborating, learning and sharing with each other in helping households, farmers and businesses to find more economical and futureproofed energy supplies.

The first step is to obtain a grant to create a Masterplan and choose an approved consultant. Our Kilfenora Sustainable Energy Community (SEC) project team has now done this. The launch of the Kilfenora Master Plan took place in our Community Hall on 9 February 2023, with some 30 villagers attending along with local public representatives. Colm Garvey from Clare-Energy, our consultant, gave a presentation of what the Masterplan comprises and what steps to take – click this link to view it.

The first step is for Kilfenora community members to fill in the household Energy Survey. Having done this, it also possible to book in for Energy Clinic (30-minute slots, free of charge) with the consultant to review your household energy usage, costs and opportunities to save. There will also be a Workshop in the Hall on 7 March (8pm) intended to brief community members on what can be done. Please use these links:

https://bit.ly/kilfenoraenergysurvey

https://bit.ly/kilfenoraenergyclinic

It only takes a few minutes to fill in the survey. If your family members or neighbours aren’t able to access the online form, maybe you could be so kind and give them a hand? A few paper forms will also be available. The survey results will be used to identify Kilfenora’s energy needs and potential for improvement, thereby building a more economical and sustainable energy future for us all.

More information will follow as we keep working on this project. To keep up to date you can also follow us on Facebook

The launch of the Energy Masterplan took place in the Community Hall in Kilfenora 9/2/23
Launch of the Kilfenora Energy Masterplan in the Community Hall on 9/2/23

Concert at Kilfenora Trad Festival 2023

A glittering array of talent will be on show at the main Saturday night concert (22 April) at Kilfenora Traditional Music Festival 2023. Tickets are €20, and available online here. You can also get tickets at Custy’s shop in Ennis, at Vaughans pub in Kilfenora, or phone Noel O’Donoghue on 0878364780.

The cast will be spearheaded by Órlaith McAuliffe, one of Irish music’s top flautists, with over 20 All-Ireland titles to her name and voted Young Musician of the Year in the 2016 TG4 Gradam Ceoil Awards. She will be accompanied by Daithí Gormley, All-Ireland button accordion champion in 2015, and leader of the Knocknashee Céilí Band; Dylan Carlos, All-Ireland Senior Fiddle champion in 2019; and Brian McGrath, pianist and banjo player supreme, perhaps the most in-demand accompanist in Irish traditional music, and who last played in Kilfenora in 2016 with At the Racket.  See below for brief biographies.

Orlaith McAuliffe
Daithi Gormley

In addition, we will feature three of the finest singers from Co Clare, who have all released wonderful CDs in recent times.

  • Katie Theasby, well-known for her flute and whistle playing, is a band member of Shaskeen and starred at the Temple Bar Trad Fest 2023. She has performed with artists such as Paddy Keenan, Stocktons Wing, Ron Kavana and Kinky Friedman amongst others. Her accompanists include Mike Hanrahan, Ger O’Donnell, Alan Wallace and Dave Saunders. The title song of her CD “I Remember You Singing” was gifted to her by Finbar Furey, with whom she has also performed.
  • Kathleen Malone, whose CD “My Island Home” also features her much-loved singer and musician father Jerry Lynch (RIP) as well as Eimear Howley; check out her facebook page for some lovely songs accompanied by Pat Dowling. All proceeds from the album go to Burren Chernobyl Project for which Katheen has long served as a volunteer.
  • Theresa Garrihy, classically trained but equally accomplished in other genres, and who had a great launch of her CD “Home” (also featuring Adrian McMahon, Rachel Reid, Pat Dowling, Martin O’ Malley) in Kilfenora in December.

And finally we will have a performance from an award-winner at the Meitheal Summer School, Emily Greaney on harp and concertina from County Galway. Having started playing at 6 years old she has progressed to tour internationally, for example with Dr Janet Harbison’s ‘Irish Harp Orchestra’ and on Joanie Madden’s cruises. Also a dancer, she has won All Ireland titles with the Abbeyknockmoy Set Dancers.

 

Órlaith McAuliffe is one of the leading flute and whistle players in Irish traditional music, holder of over 20 All-Ireland titles – at different age levels, solo and in duos and trios. She was voted Young Musician of the Year in the 2016 TG4 Gradam Ceoil Awards. Raised in North London by parents from Killarney, she started under her mother’s tutelage on the whistle at 9 years old. She is now a regular performer and workshop provider at Irish music festivals, and has been a member of the National Folk Orchestra of Ireland and the band Crossharbour. She is also a medical doctor, working on the front-line in the NHS. She collaborates musically with many different Irish musicians, including her concertina player sister Brogan, who holds 4 All-Ireland titles.

Daithí Gormley hails from a highly musical family from Ballintogher, Co Sligo. Described by legendary accordion player Joe Burke as a ‘master musician’, he was All-Ireland button accordion champion in 2015, and leader of the Knocknashee Céilí Band that performed mightily over several years at the Fleadh Cheoil. He has taught and performed at music festivals and Summer Schools nationally and internationally, and has researched, published and lectured extensively on the history of Irish traditional music. In 2017 Daithí and Sligo fiddler Oisín MacDiarmada published the ‘Fiddlers of Sligo’ Tunebook. In 2018 Daithí released his first solo album ‘Fiddling without a Bow – Irish Traditional Music on Button Accordion’ to much acclaim.

Dylan Carlos comes from a very musical family in Co Roscommon – a part of the country best known for flute playing. Dylan collaborates with many musicians, within the Irish tradition and more broadly. He is part of the group “Carlos Sweeney McCartin” – their debut album (2019) garnered critical acclaim. Dylan is a past all Ireland winner on fiddle, plays and teaches regularly at festivals around Ireland and abroad, and has also played with the groups “Gatehouse” and “Garadice”.

Fermanagh-born pianist Brian McGrath is one of the most in-demand accompanists in Irish traditional music. His playing is influenced by the Irish American style of dance hall traditional music played and recorded in the 1920’s-40’s.  He is also an accomplished banjo and guitar player, as exemplified on his CD “Pure Banjo” (2009); he teaches both piano and banjo. He has toured extensively, playing with the biggest names in Irish traditional music – Frankie Gavin, Noel Hill, John Carty, Matt Molloy, Charlie Lennon, Joe Burke, Sean Maguire and many more – as well as singers such as Eleanor Shanley, Dolores Keane, Maura O’Connell and Tommy Fleming. Brian has also been part of many bands, including De Dannan and At the Racket (who played in Kilfenora in 2016).

Dylan Carlos
Brian McGrath

 

Kilfenora Traditional Music Festival 2023

The Kilfenora Traditional Music Festival 2023 will be held again on the weekend of 21-24 April.

This will be the 14th festival in a series that began in 2009 with the centenary of the Kilfenora Céilí Band. The festival is noted for great concerts and céilís, plus cracking CD launches, pub sessions and some music and dance workshops for beginners. It is intended to adopt a similar format to previous years with events and sessions on the Friday and Monday as well.

Events being planned include a concert on Saturday night @ 8pm with an array of great musicians and singers; a special night of dance and music on Friday @ 7.30pm; a céilí on Saturday night @ 9pm followed by the famous Trad Disco; and a Riches of Clare concert in Kilfenora Cathedral (Saturday @ 1pm).

Of course the highlight on Sunday will be the open-air céilí in the Square with the great Kilfenora Céilí Band.

Keep checking this website and the Festival facebook page for updates.

Kilfenora Players back on stage

After a long break the Kilfenora Players will return to the stage in the local community hall – on 2, 3 and 4 December at 8pm – with “It’s the Real McCoy”. This highly acclaimed comedy was written by Tommy Marren, a playwright and radio broadcaster from Co Mayo.

The action takes place over two days in the spring of 1964 in the humble abode of Madge Molloy – a woman in her mid-60s who has for 40 years wondered why her husband Tom, to whom she was married for just four months, disappeared without trace or reason.

The cast comprises John Howard, Paul Carkill, Willie Cahir, Mary Buckley, Lisa Carkill, Caroline O’Dea and Eileen Hegarty; the Stage crew is Mary McCormack, Michael O’Loughlin, and Pat and John Lynch. As always with the Kilfenora Players, under the direction of Fr Ned Crosby, this promises to be a great night of amateur drama.

Tickets – €10 (or €15 for a family) – are only available on the door on the night. So get there early to avoid disappointment.

For more details on Tommy Marren (pictured below) see here.

Tommy Marren
  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 5
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

News Items

Celebration of Irish Dance, Kilfenora, Friday 21 April

Clare Local Development – have your say

Launch of Energy Survey and Masterplan

Concert at Kilfenora Trad Festival 2023

Kilfenora Traditional Music Festival 2023

Kilfenora Players back on stage

Linnanes pub – ‘end of an era’

Kitty Linnane plaque unveiled in Kilfenora

Kilfenora Heritage Day

Your views on a new 80m euro Cliffs Visitor Centre?

New CoI bishop enthronement in Kilfenora

The Pope’s new Kilfenora appointment

Slide
"Kilfenora, city of the crosses, home of céilí music"
Slide
"Kilfenora, city of the crosses, home of céilí music"

Footer

For any queries please email
[email protected]

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2023 Kilfenora