Dive into Kilkenny Arts Festival!

Diving off John's Bridge, Kilkenny City

Dive into Kilkenny Arts Festival- you'll emerge energized and refreshed! C'mon down- there is a great buzz in town and fantastic things to see, hear, do, and talk about! I'm writing this on the Sunday Aug 12, and the festival runs through next Sunday; have a browse through the programme and plan a visit. Seeing the art & craft is free, & there are free events; but even the pay-for events are great value, so come enjoy a fantastic festival!


Head out to the things on outside of KK City, too! We got to the Three Solos show on Thomastown's Low Street, as well as the shows in gorgeous buildings of Grennan Waternmill (Berkley Gallery) & Grennan Mill Craft School. There is much more on there in Thomastown, too! (We have to go back- ran out of time!) If you only have time for 1 stop, the show in Grennan Mill Craft School is the one Hubby & I feel you should not to miss. Note: my bird photos above do NO JUSTICE to Fiona Heaney's pieces- so go see for yourself! Even the buildings are works of art ;-)

Old mill workings behind Grennan Mill Craft School, Thomastown, Kilkenny

  The Thomastown shows are listed under the category Open Submissions, & don't (if you can do stairs) get frustrated with climbing the stairs all the way to the top floor of Grennan Mill Craft School for the works there by John Bentley & Andi McGarry are very worth seeing!
 Back in Kilkenny City, I got to hear Craft Strand curator Angela Kelly talk about the works in Utensil, on in the National Craft Gallery. Beautiful & interesting, I think it is also worth a visit- and do have a listen to the Whispering Table. Clever idea :-) Be sure to check the programme, as there are craft events on for kids & adults, too.

             
The Globe Theatre are presenting As You Like It in the atmospheric setting of the Castle Yard beside the National Craft Gallery all week, and it is a wonderful show. ( If you are interested in Shakespeare & Ireland, you may like this Irish Times article.)  The actors are such great singers as well, and play instruments, too- a multi talented bunch! The show is great fun, & the Friday we went the sun joyfully shone down til dusk fell. Tis about 3 hours long, & outdoors, so go prepared for rain, sun, chill-- who knows what weather may happen! There is a bar, tho', so if it is wet you could drown your sorrows ;-)

The sun shone on As You Like It!

On Saturday night we saw Aziz Samhaoui & the University of Gnawa. As usual, the music selected by the music curators at Kilkenny Arts Festival didn't disappoint.The band's great groove soon had people on the floor dancing, & most others seat dancing as well! I hope to upload a short clip when I've time- there's s.l.o.w. upload speed here *sighs* Til then, here's a photo & a link to a song from them.                                                                                                                     

           

 As I write this there's still a whole week of enjoyment left-- don't miss out! There's lots on for the family, too, & so many great places to eat & chill out when you need a break. We had a very tasty lunch at Zuni's casual front cafe on Saturday, and Cleeres is always fab for pub lunch, bevvies & craic on the Watergate/Canice's side of town, while Bridies is a pub we love on the Set Theatre side of town. Where ever you go in Kilkenny-- enjoy! And mark your calendar for next year's Art Festival!
              WhatToSeeInIreland

Best music festival in Ireland! Kilkenny Roots Festival

Driving into the sunset to the Kilkenny Roots Festival

The Kilkenny Roots Festival has got to be one of the very best places to hear great musicians, see them up close in atmospheric venues, and buzz with the eclectic crowd of festival goers-- in short, have the craic. And for not much money! About half of the gigs are free, & the rest generally cost between €10-€20-- recession busting at its finest.

John Cleere has been organising the festival for years, and has a keen ear/eye for quality acts. One of the big scoops this year was Alabama Shakes, and seeing them live at the Set Theatre I realized that they are without a doubt a band that should be experienced live. So get their CD/download/vinyl, but also SEE THEM LIVE! Here's a taster of them doing a song you likely best know as performed by Led Zeppelin

Imagine it live-- it was fabulous!

Truthfully they rocked so hard my faithful Galaxy S2 couldn't handle the louder bits and the sound went very distorted,- thus the more subdued clip :-)

On the gentler side of things, we also saw the wonderful Amanda Shires, twice! Now, I say gentler, but she has a song about murdering her lover- have a listen: 

This is not my video, BTW- not trying to take credit :-) Plus, in this video there is added Rod Picott for your listening pleasure! He was at the KKRoots, too, but we didn't get to his own gig. We didn't get to lots of the gigs, but plan to take time off to do so next year-- you should think about it, too--drive off into the sunset and spend a golden 3 day weekend in Kilkenny!
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PS: check out this for tips on where to eat in Kilkenny! For newspaper articles on the 2012 festival see this one, where an artist declares he's in love with Kilkenny. He's not alone, in this article, musician & writer Willy Vlautin tells about his experience of the festival.  Head to Kilkenny next time & find out for yourself! :-)
WhatToSeeInIreland

What to do in Ireland: Great music gigs!

In Ireland, you are spoiled for choice in music. There is such a wide range on offer, from homegrown musicians to ones on tour from elsewhere. If you are wondering what to do in Ireland in the next few weeks, here's a sample of some of what's coming up: 

The Spaghetti Western Orchestra 

If you are in the southern end of the country on 25 Feb, and enjoy music with a quirky twist, the excellent Spaghetti Western Orchestra is playing in the Cork Opera House, but if you are in the Dublin area, how about going to hear Kammerpop at Project Arts Centre? Their pianist, Fiachra White, says:

Our music has themes ranging from romance and heartbreak to politics and living angst. While we are classically trained musicians, we are looking for our music to be enjoyed as the 3 minute pop songs that they are. Thanks for listening! 

In need of something a bit more rock-n-roll? Have a listen to Tipperary/Cork band Crow Black Chicken!

They're playing plenty of dates all around Ireland; we're definitely going to go check them out.

Here in medieval Graiguenamanagh, our 12th century Duiske Abbey will be host to pianists Katia and Marielle Labeque on 2 March as part of the Barrow River Arts Festival. The sound is going to be spectacular in this wonderful setting! 

Duiske Abbey, Graiguenamanagh., Kilkenny. Ireland

Also in the Kilkenny area the fantastic Rhythm and Roots Festival will be on in May-- another I'd highly recommend! Quality music at great value (lots of fab free gigs, too!) in intimate venues with a fantastic buzz. Go! 

Here's a video from Kitty, Daisy & Lewis who'll be playing at the festival. See you there :-) PS! Please leave a comment if you have any music/gig recommendations-- we'd love to hear them. Thanks! 

Kilkenny Arts Fest: flamboyant & flirty, or crafty and happy? It'll all be there!

The fabulous Kilkenny Arts Festival 2011 program is here! 

Once again, it is choc-a-blok with intriguing offerings in the areas of music, theatre, dance, literature, visual arts, craft, and kids' events. Where else would you be able to hear a ''flamboyant harpsichordist,'' (Christophe Rousset,) see dance theatre for free from ''incorrigable flirts'' ponydance (so says the Irish Times!) and groove to Mongolian traditional music with ''western sensibility'' from Hanggai!?!

I am so going to this!! Hanggai
 I'll be blogging on the Craft Strand, and an exciting theme in the strand this year is literature & books.

Modified Expression will be on at The National Craft Gallery, with a range of makers responding to the theme.
Here's one of them with a rather otherworldly video done in the Dublin suburbs last winter- calligraphy in the snow by Denis Brown, The Real Quill Skill

There will be bookbinding workshops, papercraft workshops and birdsong related workshops for the kids all at the National Craft Gallery. 

Laoise O'Brien & Lorna Donlon

For the adults, 'How Happy For The Little Birds' is a musical programme connected to the crafts works from Lorna Donlon on display in the Castle Yard- a response to the musical repertoire.

There will also be an artists' talk in the National Craft Gallery, and an early evening Celebration of the Year Of Craft .

Hot Glass Divas will be on at Jerpoint Glass Studio
 I'm also really looking forward to seeing the Hot Glass Divas works on show at Jerpoint Glass (located outside of Thomastown,) - definitely worth a drive, because you can then also see the exhibits on show at Grennan Mill Craft School.

Clive Nunn is one of the makers who'll be showing in Grennan Mill. Check out the others by clicking here & scrolling down to where the listings are for 'Other Selections.' There are plenty to see!


 So there's a small taste of the Festival. It is well worth going to; nothing is expensive, much is free, and Kilkenny is a lovely, small city- easy to get around on foot. Take some time out, check all the listings, & plan to enjoy some fun, unusual, thought provoking & beautiful exhibits and events. See you there!

A village in Ireland- towel hanging contests & classic concerts

Graiguenamanagh (''hamlet of the monks'') is a pretty village in County Kilkenny, along the banks of the river Barrow.

And as you'll see,as well as being historic & charming, it is also a lot of fun! 

The website of the lovely Ballyogan House B&B tells us: 

''Graiguenamanagh, Co Kilkenny is one of the most attractive and unspoiled small towns

 in the South-East of Ireland. Nestling under Brandon Hill on a bend in the River Barrow, the town, like the river, has meandered its way through the centuries since it's origin as a Cistercian abbey in the early 13th century. The town is off the beaten track but is still readily accessible from all the major entry points to Ireland -two hours drive from the airport or Ferry ports in Dublin, and only 45 minutes drive from Rosslare Ferry.

  History

Duiske Abbey was founded in the year 1204 and built by Cistercian monks from Wiltshire in England. From that day on, the town of Graiguenamanagh has grown up in the shadow of Brandon Hill and has seen the best of times and the worst of times. The town name comes from the Irish words 'Graig-na-managh' meaning the grange or church of the monks. Indeed it was the monks that gave Graiguenamanagh such a good start and by all accounts they were a very industrious lot. The monks at Graigue were managing huge flocks of sheep and had their own woolen mill from where they exported wool to Italy as early as the 13th century. They also built fish traps on the river and harvested Salmon and Eels in great numbers.''

Towel Hanging Contests

I would add that Graig is also a place of incredible community spirit, with many festivals and organizations for a town of its size! There's Ireland's longest running Brass Band, history society, rowing club, GAA, golf club, tidy towns, scouts, book club, theatre group, and more! Festival wise, there's the Book festival, the Michaelmas festival, The Regatta, the St. Patrick's Day Parade, & I'm pretty sure I've forgotton one or 2. Can it get any more exciting than this? Well, check out the famous 'Towel Hanging Competition' during the June Bank Holiday:

Watch this!

Or how about the Sheep Racing?

(all videos from tonybagpipes's interesting You Tube channel)

In a less tongue in cheek, & more professional vein, here is a clip from RTE's  NationwideTV program about the Graiguenamanagh Duiske Concerts & the Town.

 For this year's concerts, check the Duiske Concerts website. Maybe we'll see you there!