Des Carty 1920 - 1996

Des Carty was born in Tallaght and over the course of his long life made a major contribution to the traditional music scene in the area and outlying districts. He spent most of his life

teaching fiddle, tin whistle, banjo and mandolin. His dedication and efficacy as a teacher is still to be witnessed by the number of people playing and teaching music in the area to this day. A striking feature of Des’ music was the breadth and variety of his repertoire - marches, set dances, waltzes, many little known Scottish tunes which otherwise may have been neglected and the standard canon of jigs, reels, polkas and slides. The Des Carty Sessions and Des Carty Music School honour his memory.

Sessions 20112011 is the eighth annual Des Carty Sessions. Since 2004 Sessions has brought some of the worlds finest musical talents to South County Dublin and the surrounding region and this year is no exception. Starting off the festival in Rathfarnham are the fantastic talents of Kathleen Loughnane & Saileog Ní Cheannabháin, The Kane Sisters & John Blake. ‘The Music of Des Carty’ will be played in Saggart Heritage & Arts Centre by Tom Moran, Paul Kelly, Liam Kennedy, Jimmy Cahill & Dave Cassidy. New to Sessions is experimental Harpist Lily Neil who’ll play in RUA RED with Paul Kelly, James Ryan, Mick McNamara & Alan Doherty. We are delighted to host the launch of Tom Moran’s new book of traditional Irish tunes The Bells of Rathcoole in the Poitín Stil, Rathcoole and we are also delighted to welcome back Rick Epping who will play alongside Jim Rooney, Mick Daly & Chris Twomey in Celbridge Library. Once again we celebrate the music of Maire Garvey with a concert in Saggart Heritage & Arts Centre featuring Josephine Keegan, John Daly & many more. Another great traditional event will be held in Áras Chrónáin with players Martin Carthy, Brigid Tunney, Jenny Dillon & Mick Daly. The festival will finish off with a knees up at St. Mary’s GAA Club, Saggart with music by The Glenside Céilí Band.

Saturday 22nd 8pmThe Kane Sisters (Fiddles) & John Blake (Guitar)Kathleen Loughnane (Harp) &Saileog Ní Cheannabháin (Vocals)Rathfarnham CastleAdm. €8 conc. €5

Monday 24th 8pm“The Music of Des Carty”Featuring: Tom Moran (Banjo), Paul Kelly (Fiddle),Liam Kennedy (Mandolin), Jimmy Cahill (Guitar),Dave Cassidy (Mandola) & Special GuestsSaggart Heritage & Arts CentreAdm. €3

Tuesday 25th 8pmPaul Kelly (Fiddle) & James Ryan (Guitar & Bou-zouki)Dessie Kelleher (Banjo) & Gary O’Brien (Guitar)Lily Neill (Harp)Mick McNamara (Vocals) & Alan Doherty (Flutes, Whistles & Percussion)RUA RED South Dublin Arts Centre, TallaghtAdm. €5

Wednesday 26th 8pmBOOK LAUNCHTom Moran’s regular Wednesday session takes on a special flavour with the launch of his new bookThe Bells of Rathcoole. Tom will be joined by Sean Óg McKenna & Mairéad O’Donnell amongst many others.The Poitín Stil, RathcooleAdm. Free

Thursday 27th 8pmJim Rooney (Guitar), Rick Epping (Harmonica, Concertina, Voice), Mick Daly (Banjo & Guitar), Chris Twomey (Autoharp)Celbridge LibraryFree but booking is essential 01 6272207

friday 28th 8pm“The Music of Maire Garvey”Maire’s family & friends celebrate the great woman’s career. Featuring Josephine Keegan (Fiddle), John Daly (Fiddle) and many more.Saggart Heritage & Arts CentreAdm. Free

saturday 29th 8pmMartin Carthy (Guitar & Voice)Brigid Tunney (Vocals)Jenny Dillon (fiddle) & Mick Daly (Banjo)Áras Chrónáin, ClondalkinAdm. €14

sunday 30th 3pmThe Glenside Céilí Band provide the music for an afternoon of set dancing organised by the St. Mary’s Set Dancers.St. Mary’s GAA Club, SaggartAdm. €10

OTHER EVENTSSaturday 22nd 1pm - 3.30pmKathleen Loughnane will lead a workshop for young musi-cians in the Harping tradition of 17th century Ireland, and will include music by the renowned O’Carolan and the influential Connellan BrothersThe Community Hall, Kilteel Adm: Free

Wednesday 26th 1pmRecital & WorkshopRecital will take place in the Atrium at 1pmWorkshop private to hospital staff & patientsTallaght Hospital Adm: Free

Thursday 27thLocal musicians and guests of the festival perform for members of the Four Districts Day Care CentreFour Districts Day Care Centre, Rathcoole

Throughout the weekDes Carty Sessions musicians will give workshops to school children. Schools include:Scóil Crónáin, RathcooleScóil Santain, TallaghtClonburris National School, ClondalkinWhitechurch National School Rathfarnham

Alternative Entertainments wish to thank: The Arts Council of Ireland, South Dublin County Council, St. Mary’s GAA Club, Celbridge Library, The Golden Dawn Guesthouse, The Poitin Stil, Saggart Heritage & Arts Centre, The Adelaide & Meath Hospital Tallaght, The Four Districts Day Care Centre, Jacob’s, Áras Chrónáin, St. Mary’s Set Dancers, All at the OPW especially Catherine O’Connor, RUA RED Arts Centre, Dave at DC Print, Mary Ryan & Kilteel Comhaltas & all the artists and audiences who have supported us through the years.

Jim Rooney - GuitarIn a career spanning more than 50 years, Jim Rooney has been involved in over 150 albums including those of John Prine, Iris DeMent, Nanci Griffith, Peter Rowan and many others. A pioneer of the late 50s early 60s folk revolution in the US, he played a key role in the creation of a new music movement alongside artists such as Eric von Schmidt, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Dave van Ronk & Ramblin’ Jack Elliot. As well as authoring several highly regarded music books, Rooney now plays with Rooney’s Irregulars and divides his time between Nashville and Ireland.

Martin Carthy - GuitarMartin Carthy has been one of folk music’s greatest innovators since the early 1960s and has influenced generations of musicians worldwide. Trailblazing musical partnerships with, amongst others,

Steeleye Span, Dave Swarbrick, the Albion Country Band (which included members of Fairport Convention), Norma Waterson (award winner and married to Carthy) and his daughter Eliza Carthy has resulted in more than 40 albums, 10 of which are solo albums.

Carthy is a ballad singer, a ground-breaking acoustic & electric guitarist & an authoritave interpreter of newly composed material. His distinctive style and settings of traditional songs with guitar have influenced artists like Bob Dylan & Paul Simon and he was named Folk Singer of The Year at the BBC Radio 2 awards in 2002.

Rick Epping – Harmonica, Concertina, VoiceRick has been playing folk music since he was eleven. He moved to Ireland from California, where he had played regularly with accordion greats Joe Cooley and Kevin Keegan, and was a founding member of Pumpkinhead with Thom Moore. In 1975 he won the All-Ireland harmonica championship. Rick worked for the Hohner harmonica company from 1987-2005 and developed their latest instrument, the XB-40. He now lives in Sligo and plays regularly as part of the bands Unwanted and Triple Harp Bypass, and with many of the country’s finest musicians.

Kathleen Loughnane - HarpNenagh-born Kathleen began playing the harp at an early age and has been based in Galway since 1982. She is renowned for her arrangements of traditional Irish dance tunes and airs for the harp, and for her research of the music of the Irish harper composers of the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1990 she co-founded the group Dordán, an all-female group whose mix of Irish and Baroque music has received widespread acclaim. She has played with some of the country’s finest musicians such as Sharon Shannon, Alec Finn, Seán Ryan, Turlough O’Carolan, Seamus Begley and Tommy Peoples. Kathleen has released four solo albums, her most recent being The Harpers Connellan in July 2009. This album features Kathleen’s individual and contemporary interpretation of Irish music of the late 17th Century.

Chris Twomey - AutoharpChris is one of the mainstays of country music in Cork City. A founder member of The Lee Valley String Band with Niall Toner in 1968, he

has spent the last 30-odd years playing old-timey, bluegrass and Irish music on the autoharp. Chris also plays guitar and concertina, and is a great old-time singer. His debut album “Midnight on the Water”, released in November 2005, is an eclectic mixture, with bluegrass

songs, Civil War ballads and some Irish instrumental pieces, while The Lee Valley String Band’s 1998 release “The Corner Boys”, produced by Jim Rooney, is considered one of the best Irish bluegrass albums ever recorded.

Tom Moran – banjoTom comes from Bohernabreena, Tallaght. He was a close friend of Des Carty and the two of them did more than most in spreading the word about traditional music in the area. He continues to teach and play to this day and has toured extensively around Ireland, England and France. Noted for the wide range of tunes he plays, Tom draws from the musical heritage of many world music traditions. This is evident from the selection of tunes on his solo CD “The Man of the House” which he released in 2005.

The Kane Sisters – FiddlesFrom North Connemara, Liz and Yvonne Kane, known as The Kane Sisters, are much respected musicians and educators. They were taught music by their grandfather, local fiddle player Jimmy Mullen and Mary Finn, a Co. Sligo musician and teacher. Liz and

Yvonne travelled all over the world with accordian player Sharon Shannon as members of her band The Woodchoppers and featured on her album The Diamond Mountain Sessions. They have also recorded three albums together - The Well Tempered Bow, Under the Diamond and their latest album Side by Side. Currently based in Letterfrack, Liz and Yvonne teach music during the school year and tour in the US during the summer.

Lily Neill - HarpIrish Music Magazine has praised Lily Neill’s work as “...part of the new Harp revolution extolling aspects of harp music never previously heard”. Lily’s foundation in Irish traditional music, coupled with her eclectic tastes and classical piano training, has enabled her to expand the voice of the harp through her arrangements of music and in her original compositions. Lily has won numerous awards, honours and scholarships for her technical and artistic abilities. In 2004, Lily released her debut solo album, “Without Words”, which garnered an impressive array of reviews and notice. Lily is currently pursuing a degree at the prestigious Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland.

Mick Daly - 5 string banjo, guitarMick is from Cork City and is a long-time player on the Irish traditional music scene. He has been a member of Arcady, Mary Black  Band

and was a founder member of Four Men & A Dog & Any Old Time. He has been playing for many years in traditional sessions in Cork City. As well as being a much sought after guitar accompanist, he is a well-known vocalist and 5 string bluegrass banjo player. Mick is a member of the long-standing Cork old-timey outfit The

Lee Valley String Band. The band has been playing music since 1968 and last year released a 40th anniversary album.

Musician in ResidenceIrish music meteor award (2010) nominee, Kathleen Loughnane is highly regarded for her work in arranging traditional Irish dance tunes and airs for the harp, and also for researching the music of Irish harp composers of the 17th and 18th centuries. She will be Alternative Entertainments’ musician-in-residence from September 2011 – March 2012. In 1990 she co-founded Dordan, whose mix of Irish and Baroque music has received wide acclaim. Kathleen has 4 CDs and

accompanying books to her credit. Her arrangements have appeared in various publications and feature on the Harp Syllabus of The Royal Irish Acadamy of Music. Recent engagements include an invitation to attend a Bardic Conference at Princeton University to give a lecture/recital on the music of the harper composers of the 17th and 18th centuries; an invitation from Na Piobairí Uilleann to give the annual Breandán Breathnach lecture January 2011; an invitation to give a lecture/recital on the music, life and times of the Connellan harpers at the 30th anniversary of the International Harp festival in Edinburgh in April 2011. She has worked on a number of projects for Alternative Entertainments since 2004.

Alternative Entertainments has programmed harp events for many years, featuring eminent harpers such as Derek Bell, Kathleen Loughnane, Paul Dooley and Laoise Kelly regularly in its festivals and recitals. During our 2009 Children’s Arts Festival Paul Dooley from Clare and Japanese harpist Junshi Murakami delivered workshops and performances to participants. Following Kathleen Loughnane’s most recent tour promoting her CD The Harper’s Connellan – Irish Music of the late 17th century, a number of local musicians, music teachers and music students expressed interest in a more intensive exposure to her work. During her residency, Kathleen will deliver master classes on the music of the Connellan brothers and O’Carolan to working local musicians, she will perform a series of recitals in venues around the area, she will visit schools and introduce primary and secondary school students to the music of the Irish harp tradition.

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Take a bow!

The arts really matter to us in Ireland; they are a big part of people’s lives, the country’s single most popular pursuit. Our artists interpret our past, define who we are today, and imagine our future. We can all take pride in the enormous reputation our artists have earned around the world. The arts play a vital role in our economy, and smart investment of taxpayers’ money in the arts is repaid many times over. The dividends come in the form of a high value, creative economy driven by a flexible, educated, innovative work force, and in a cultural tourism industry worth

2.4 billion directly a year. The Arts Council is the Irish Government agency for funding and developing the arts. Arts Council funding from the taxpayer, through the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport, for 2010 is 69.15 million, that’s less than 1 a week for every household. So, at the end of your next great festival experience, don’t forget the role you played and take a bow yourself!

Find out what’s on at

www.events.artscouncil.ieYou can find out more about the arts here:

www.artscouncil.ie

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