*Photograph: Ruthie Griffin.
FEAKLE is tuning up for the arrival of thousands of visitors across the next week.
Concerts, workshops, presentations and lively sessions galore await for the 39th Feakle Festival which kicks into gear on Wednesday (August 5th) and runs until Monday August 10th.
“There’s lots of things to expect from it whether you are a musician, dancer, a music lover or just coming to visit of Feakle in East Clare, there’s something for everyone,” explained Aoife Hayes who serves as secretary of the festival committee.
Tulla Céilí Band will hold eightieth anniversary celebrations at the community hall and will launch a CD. The festival itself begins by looking to the past and the future with a presentation by Tulla fiddler Sorcha Costelloe. The presentation titled, ‘Looking back while moving forward: The past, present and future of the East Clare Music Tradition’ takes place in the Community Hall at 19:30. “She will be doing a presentation on the night and has composed new music around the tradition, rhythm and style of East Clare music around the past”.
Workshops take place on Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning “with many fabulous tutors” including Martin Hayes, Jack Talty, Páraic Mac Donnchadha, Terence O’Reilly, Nuala Kennedy, Mary McNamara and Claire Keville.
Concerts “are nearly sold out and are at capacity,” Aoife outlined. Eva Carroll and Meabh Mulligan headline the Thursday night concert in Peppers, talented tutors will show how it’s done with the Friday lunchtime concert while later that night Pepper’s marquee will host Eleanor Shanley and Mike Hanrahan. Liam O’Connor and Cormac Begley are in St Mary’s Church on Saturday night for a gala concert with the Community Hall serving as the setting for a céilí with The Star of Munster. The grand finale céilí celebrates eighty years of the Tulla Céilí Band on Sunday at the marquee in what promises to be “very special”.
Ninety years of the Tulla Pipe Band will also be marked. “They will march through the street during the festival, this was a thing of the past for committee to march behind him, there’s something special about that too for it to be happening and with their 90th anniversary,” Aoife maintained.
Having the festival in existence for thirty nine years is “incredible,” she told The Clare Echo. “There is something for everyone which is the beauty of it, if you stroll around the village if the weather permits you will find a beautiful atmosphere, it is something quite special to experience it. It amazes me to see people travelling from all over the world and how they can find the village of Feakle in East Clare by word of mouth, from people hearing positive things about it down through the years”.
Her uncle Martin, the gifted fiddler always draws a crowd with his appearances. The Hayes family have been associated with the festival for as long as Aoife can remember including the input of her father Pat on the committee. This is her fifth year on the committee but she has actively helped out behind the scenes long before then. “It is hard to pinpoint when my involvement with the festival started, growing up ten minutes down the road we were always there. My Dad was on the committee then and still is, it became a highlight for our year as children, it is a massive conversation at home, particularly for the last couple of months. As a teenager I got involved helping out in the office and that continued to where I am now with the committee as secretary. I’ve been more heavily involved in the last few years but I’ve always been helping out, I’m nearly thirty now but it has always been part of my life, it is hard to explain what the festival means to me, it is part of my identity and it becomes part of your life, I am immensely proud to have had the opportunity to be involved in it”.
Musicians travelled from as far away as Mozambique to attend the Feakle Festival last year. “We haven’t anything as far as Mozambique in the programme but I’m sure they will travel from near and far, it is incredible to see people come from near and far”.
Growth of the festival is visible each year, she said. “Each year it is exceeding our expectations and how it has developed with the programme expanding, it is nearly a week long festival and with the calibre of musicians that want to play in Feakle. We have high-end musicians known globally who are delighted and humbled to play at the Feakle Festival. Some musicians say their year wouldn’t be the same if they didn’t play in Feakle”.
Thousands of people are expected in East Clare for the festival. “It is hard to put an exact number on it but between 5,000 to 6,000 is the miniumum grasp of it. It is hard to pinpoint it, some have said 8,000 but it is tough to quantify because we have so many events. Tickets are selling incredibly well and we are anticipating a good crowd, hopefully the weather plays ball and people will come out to support the artists and East Clare businesses. It does have a knock-on effect to businesses and supports them whether it is a business owner with a restaurant, café and shop”.
She said there is a “huge” lift for the economy in Feakle and wider East Clare area thanks to the festival. “People are travelling, they need a bed rest and food so it boosts the local economy which is fantastic to see. We’re very fortunate to have four pubs running during the festival, a lot of businesses can make a lot of their income by having a festival running, it is important to thank them for allowing this to happen”.
