O'Carolan Festival to take over Nobber this weekend

The annual O'Carolan Harp, Cultural and Heritage Festival will takes place in Nobber from tomorrow (Thursday) until Sunday and will feature a wide range of events, including the legendary Kilfenora Ceili Band and Sileas, the renowned Scottish harpers. Tomorrow night, the opening night of the 22nd annual festival, archaeologist Matthew Seaver will give a talk on Nobber and the Barony of Morgallion in Nobber Community Hall at 8pm, under the auspices of Meath Archaeological and Historical Society. The festival, which commemorates the life and works of Turlough O'Carolan, will be officially opened at 8pm on Friday in O'Carolan College and this will be followed by a harp concert featuring Sileas, the Meath Harp Orchestra, Cormac de Barra and Dearbhail Finnegan. On Saturday, Kathleen Loughnane from Nenagh will give a talk on 'The Harpers Connellan' at 11am in O'Carolan College. The brothers Thomas and William Connellan were contempories of O'Carolan and are famous for the song 'Molly MacAlpin' which was so loved by O'Carolan he is quoted as saying that he would have traded all his own tunes in order to have been its composer. Saturday will see workshops run for the day at O'Carolan College including instrumental workshops (fiddle, whistle, button accordian, guitar accompaniment for Irish music), and harp workshops and competitions for the various levels. An O'Carolan Historical Tour will take place at 2.30pm on the Saturday and that night there will be a traditional concert at 8pm featuring the Kilfernora Ceili Band and the Meath Harp Ensemble. On Sunday, the Aifreann Tradisiunta will be held in St John the Baptist Church, Nobber, at 11am, followed by a wreath-laying ceremony at the O'Carolan monument near the fire station in the village. The 2009 recipients of the Tony Finnegan Memorial Award - Michael O'Neill and Grace Crilly - will provide music at the monument. Refreshments will then be served in Nobber Community Hall. Later on Sunday, Davey Joe Fallon will play at a ceili in Nobber Community Hall from 3pm till 6pm. Music sessions will be held in Dee Local on Friday at 10pm and in Keogan's Lounge on Saturday at 10pm.