Navan in May is 'Music Town'

Navan, which has produced musical legends across the generations from Jimmy Smith and the Bogey Boys to Oisin Leech's Lost Brothers, is set to confirm its status as a music mecca over the first two weeks of May, with concerts and festivals of all hues taking place across the town from the May bank holiday weekend. 
Two major events are the inaugural Navan Acoustic Guitar Festival, and the 40th anniversary Navan Choral Festival, which will see President Michael D Higgins attend the National Choir of the Year competition on Sunday 12th May. Here we take a look at some of the events which affirm Navan as Meath's Music Town.

Country Music Night

The bank holiday weekend starts off with a  Country Music Night on Thursday 2nd May, in Teach Na Teamhrach, Balreask, when a line-up of top musicians perform in aid of the Dowdstown Counselling Service. Matt Leavy headlines the night alongside his brother, Paul,  one of the stars of this year's TG4 Glór Tíre, Paul Leavy, and joining them will be Niamh Lynn, Alanna Maher, Keelan Arbuckle, The Celtic Blondes, Glór Tíre's Ailish McBride, Laura Colgan, Voice of Ireland star Nigel Connell and  Ireland’s Got Talent finalist, Sharyn Ward. 

Navan Acoustic Guitar Festival

Some 20 venues across the town are taking part in the Navan Acoustic Guitar Festival, an informal style event to emerge out of the #LoveNavan initiative. It takes place over the bank holiday weekend, from Friday until Sunday, with a singer-songwriter event happening from the base bar, Bermingham's on Ludlow Street, from 1pm until 6pm on Sunday 5th. A similar event takes place there on Monday, from 2pm onwards. 
On Friday in Solstice, classical guitarist Pat Coldrick, in advance of his National Concert Hall concert with John Sheahan, Brian Byrne and Finbarr Furey, will give guitar workshops, and on Sunday evening in the Gin Room of the Royal, singer-songwriter Gerry Hodgers will give a talk on songwriting, from 6pm-7pm. Check out lovenavan.ie for the schedule.

Jazz it up

Solstice Arts Centre in Navan has partnered with composer and musician Sid Peacock on a new project that brings together musical traditions of Ireland and features classical/Irish flautist Eimear McGeown, Congolese guitarist Niwel Tsumbu and Ulster Scots piper Darren Milligan with his Surge Orchestra. Surge is a contemporary jazz, roots and folk orchestra that specialises in collaborations with musicians from all genres and cultures.
Solstice Arts Centre is providing free tickets to a 20-piece jazz orchestra on Saturday 4 May, 7:30pm. Support is from the highly acclaimed When Traditions Meet project hosted by Culturlann and North West Community Partnership. (See Page 60).

Jenny Greene Live

Listeners to RTE 2FM who have been missing Jenny Greene since her departure from the Nicky Byrne Show, will have a chance to hear  the DJ live at Solar Nightclub on Sunday 5th May. 
She has performed 'Electric Disco' at Oxegen, Electric Picnic, Sea Sessions and Longitude, and sold out arenas such as the Point  Arena with the RTE Concert Orchestra and Gemma Sugrue. 

Navan Choral Festival
What started as a one-day festival in 1979 has grown to an eight-day event including choral and instrumental competitions which are expected to attract more than 3,500 competitors and accompanying visitors to the town.
Organisers say that the festival would bring a great buzz to the town and encourage people to attend any or all the competitions free of charge at venues including the Newgrange Hotel, St Mary's Church of Ireland, St Mary's RC Church,Simonstown GAA Centre and Columbanus Hall. Each year the festival attracts the cream of choral and instrumental talent from primary and post primary schools, youth choirs, adult choirs, and solo singers. The festival runs from Saturday 4th to Sunday 12th May, when the National Choir of the Year Competition sponsored by the Rotary Club of Navan concludes proceedings. (See page 30).

Paddy Smith Blues man
Navan blues singer, songwriter and harmonica player Paddy Smith is gearing up for a night of blues at the Solstice Arts Centre on Friday 10th May. 
From Silverlawns, Navan, most recently he released a studio album 'Tribute to the Blues Greats' with tracks from that work played by Pat James on Radio Nova. 
Towards the end of last year Smith achieved a personal ambition when he played a gig at the Solstice and now he is returning to the venue once more with his band which also includes seasoned musicians such as Mike Brookfield, Kasper Kucharski, Tony Smyth and Stephen Casey. The support will be provided by seven-piece Navan band iF.