The temperature is rising in Ballaghaderreen as the buzz builds ahead of the town hosting its first Fleadh Cheoil weekend in ten years.
Easter weekend will see the return of the county’s Fleadh Cheoil and nowhere is better prepared with its strong traditional music scene churning out four seisiúns every week all year round.
Once commonplace, but now quite rare, it is still not unusual to find a few traditional tunes being played in a corner of one of the town’s many pubs on any given afternoon.
The history of Fleadh Cheoil is strong in Ballaghaderreen, where stories going as far back to Fleadhs in the 1960s are still told. By the 1970s, Ballaghaderreen’s most famous musical son, Matt Molloy, was a major force on the international traditional music scene, so when Matt came back home with an entourage of musical friends to 1970s fleadhanna, it caused quite a stir.
All these years later and Matt is still touring the world and has become a living legend of traditional music scene worldwide. He was back in his home town for the Fleadh Cheoil launch night recently and will no doubt make an appearance this Easter.
Another son of Ballaghaderreen and no stranger to the world stage is Paul Daly, who is now living in Manchester. The word among reliable sources in Ballaghaderreen is that he too will be back home for Easter.
Throw in the fact musicians travel from all over Ireland and the UK to take part in the Roscommon County Fleadh, as it is holiday weekend in both jurisdictions, and you have the perfect recipe for four days of magic!
With something for everyone, the organisers are already looking forward to welcoming you to the Roscommon County Fleadh Cheoil over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend (Friday 19th to Monday, April 22nd) in Ballaghaderreen. For more information, please call 094-9860144, email rosfleadhcheoil2019@gmail or check out Roscommon Fleadh 2019 on Facebook.
