Donegal Fiddle Day February 8th 2025

Fiddle Workshops with Siobhán Peoples and Martin McGinley

These workshops are for intermediate to advance players inrterested in developing their knowledge of Donegal fiddling

Saturday February 8th 2025, 10:30am - 1:30pm

Stranmillis College Music Building

£25 Book Online

Siobhán Peoples is an outstanding ambassador for traditional fiddling. Siobhán is steeped in the musical history of Co. Donegal, through her father Tommy from east Donegal, and of Co. Clare, through her grandmother Kitty Linnane, pianist with the original Kilfenora Céilí Band. Based in Ennis, County Clare, she has been an integral part of the vibrant session scene there for several decades. She has been a driving force behind the resurgence of the Ennis Trad Festival. A dedicated and deeply influential teacher, Siobhán is a featured tutor annually at Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy and at the University of Limerick. She teaches with patience, analytical ability and flexibility and creates a relaxed atmosphere in her classes so the passing and learning of the tradition can flow freely.

Martin McGinley is simply a force of nature who lights up any music session or fiddle class that he is involved in. Born and raised in east Donegal, and steeped in the traditions of that area, Martin combines his long career in journalism and music education with a voracious appetite for the music, history, and lore of Donegal fiddling. These qualities shine through on his recent solo fiddle recording Full Circle, released by Caidreas na BhFidiléirí. He is a man of legendary session stamina, possessing boundless curiosity about the world of fiddling, and he is a devoted teacher who regularly instructs at the Donegal Fiddle Week in Glencolmcille and Scoil Gheimhridh Ghaoth Dobhair.

Maurice Bradley CD Launch with Special Guest Dermot McLaughlin

Featuring Siobhán Peoples, Martin McGinley, Ciaran Kelly, and Teresa Clarke

An Droichead

Saturday February 8th 2025, 8:30 pm

£5 Book Online

The County Derry man Maurice Bradley man is highly respected throughout Ireland as a consummate musician of multiple instruments with an enormous repertoire and a highly-informed appreciation of traditional music. Maurice is musically well-travelled, but home is very much the farm at Moyard, Sixtowns, County Derry. His family have been there since at least the 1600s. He began to play music in the family home and has travelled up and down the country to sessions and fleadhs since his teenage years in the 1970s. Music hasn’t been all-consuming – he has an active interest in the Irish language, particularly from his home place, and more generally in Irish culture, history and heritage. Most of Maurice’s working life has been spent teaching Irish and music, notably in North West Regional College in Derry.

Óran na hEala by Maurice Bradley

This long awaited recording features a wonderful selection of tunes from the heart of the tradition, many of them rarely heard, delivered in great style by master musician Maurice Bradley. Drawn from a lifetime of playing and listening throughout the country and beyond, the recording features Maurice’s piping and fiddling in equal measure, with tasteful accompaniment from Ciaran Kelly (bouzouki and guitar) and Melissa Emmons (piano). The influence of piping masters Seamus Ennis and Leo Rowsome is evident, and in Maurice’s fiddling his long association with two of Donegal‘s great fiddlers, James Byrne and Con Cassidy, shines through. The CD will be launched by Dermot McLaughlin at An Droichead in Belfast on February 8th 2025.

Derry man Dermot McLaughlin is a renowned exponent of and authority on Donegal fiddle music, especially the rich culture of the southwest of the county where he has played with and learned from fiddle masters including Con Cassidy, James Byrne, Francie Mooney, Dinny McLaughlin, Vincent Campbell, and Francie Dearg Ó Beirne. Dermot has been involved with the work of Caidreas na BhFidiléirí since its inception in the 1980s, with whom he has produced a number of seminal recordings of Donegal fiddle music. The notes and essays Dermot penned for these recordings, drawing on his unparalleled knowledge and expertise, are in themselves national treasures. Dermot usually performs solo and unaccompanied, which is unusual in Irish traditional music these days, and his public appearances with his fiddle are rare and special events. We are honoured to have him in Belfast to launch Maurice Bradley’s new CD.

Ciaran Kelly (accordion) and Teresa Clarke (fiddle, piano) are well known performers in the Belfast session seen and longtime friends and collaborators with Maurice Bradley. As a trio, they played for many years at BelfastTrad’s Christmas student concert and ceili, keeping the set dancers on the floor until well past closing time. Ciaran has been instrumental in bringing Maurice’s recording project forward. We are delighted to have them participate in the launch of Maurice’s CD.