Matt Molloy's Bar
Upcoming Gigs & Concerts

A Traditional Irish Atmosphere and
the Best of Irish Traditional Music





Hello everybody and welcome to the gig guide. We will keep you informed about up-and-coming concerts and other special events at the yard bar and of course all are welcome to our nightly sessions of traditional music and song.
Matt Molloy

************************************************************************




Wednesday 8th September
In Concert/cd launch
Liz & Yvonne Kane
& Edel Fox

Galway Advertiser
From North Connemara, Liz and Yvonne Kane, known as The Kane Sisters are much
respected musicians and educators. Born in Letterfrack, they were educated in Kylemore Abbey School. They were taught music by their Grandfather, local fiddle player, Jimmy Mullen and Mary Finn, a Co.Sligo musician and teacher.

Edel Fox is a concertina player from Miltown Malbay Co. Clare. She began playing at the age of 7 and was fortunate to be brought up in an area and environment where traditional music was in abundance. 

A great night promised!
Doors open @ 8pm 
www.edelfox.com
www.thekanesisters.com

*****************************************************************************
 
Wednesday 22nd September
Thom Moore
Seami O'Dowd & Aminah Hughes

Go to fullsize image
His creative work, which he considers more literary than musical, shows the distinctive influence of the various countries and cultures of his experience. But the most serious influence of his life has been and will always be the rich instrumental-music tradition of Ireland, upon which he bases an ever-increasing amount of his work.



Seamie O’Dowd has built a solid reputation as one of Ireland’s finest musicians. He has toured world-wide as a member of Sligo traditional Irish band Dervish as well  as recording and playing with many other world-renowned musicians such as Mairtin O’Connor,
Liam O’Flynn, Matt Molloy, Mary Mc Partlan, Steve Wickham and many others.




Aminah Hughes is a singer /songwriter, spoken word artist, poet and emerging filmmaker. Her passion for storytelling is evident in honest lyrics that interlace political potency with a warm gentleness that leaves you feeling held, while her ethereal singing style takes you on a journey that can only be described as beautifully haunting.

A very tasty evening that brings three wonderful singer/songwriters together. Seami O'Dowd recently released an album with Mairtin O'Connor and Cathal Hayden. Aminah is from Australia but has recently moved to London and performed with Seami, Cathy Jordan & Rick Epping on a recent visit to Ireland. They will be joined by Thom Moore who is best known for his time with Midnight Well and Pumpkinhead and whose hits include SAW YOU RUNNING, STILL BELIEVING, THE SCHOLAR (also known as "The Train From Sligo"), CAVAN GIRL, ALICE IN JERICHO, CAROLINA RUA, etc..

Doors open @ 8pm
www.thommooremusic.com
www.myspace.com/aminahhughes
www.seamieodowd.com


*******************************************************************************

Sunday 26th September 
Triona Marshall
&
Alyth McCormack


Triona Marshall's playing has been described as elegant and awe inspiring. "Her notes ring with a precision that few harpists can emulate, her ability to weave melodies through her fingers is truly breathtaking and the artistry of her musicianship can bring tears to the eyes."

Go to fullsize image
A voice described as having ‘spun glass fragility belying a sinewy strength’, accompaniments ‘transcendentally timeless and effortlessly contemporary’ combined with the uncomplicated conviction with which she communicates with her audiences have ensured that Alyth is one of the most exciting singers on the scene.

An early evening gig not to be missed!
Doors open @ 6pm
www.trinamarshall.com
www.alyth.net

*********************************************************************************

Tuesday 28th & Wedneday 29th Setember

2 nights only
Dezy Walls

dezy's bio
"entertainer, singer, comedian, motivator, playwright, performer, piano man, people magnet"

From the time I was 4 years old and saw my Granny entertaining a roomful of people, something in me was ignited. After many bumps and ego bruises I learnt to share that fire with audiences. I developed a fun interactive show but my greatest joy was discovering that my own songs lifted the entertainment to yet another level. The performer and writer are inseparable.

Advised adults only, contains raunchy material
Fantasic show not to be missed!
Doors open @ 8pm
www.dezywalls.com


******************************************************************************************************************************

Matt Molloy's Yard Bar in association with Westport Arts Festival presents: 

Monday 4th October
Alan Kelly Quartet

Go to fullsize image

One of Ireland’s most accomplished musicians in any genre, Alan Kelly is piano accordionist, composer and arranger utterly at home in his own skin.
Joining Alan on stage are three of the finest musicians to emerge from Ireland in recent times ...

Tóla Custy - Fiddle - hails from Co. Clare, from a family renowned in the world of traditional music. He became widely known with the release of his solo album Setting Free in 1994. He was a founding member of the band Calico (winner of the Irish Music Magazine Best Newcomers Award in 1998) and a member of the Bowhouse Quintet. He tours with many groups including Lúnasa, Grada and Guidewires.

Donogh Hennesy - Guitar - Originally from Dublin, one of the founding members of the super-group Lúnasa, he has also performed and recorded with many of Ireland’s finest exponents including John Spillane, Pauline Scanlon, Gerry O Connor, Sharon Shannon and Frankie Gavin. His last album with Lúnasa was nominated for Folk album of the year 2004 in the BBC Radio 2 Awards.

Steph Geremia - Flute / Whistle / Vocals. Though being a long-time Irish resident, Steph hails originally from New York. She is recognized as a vibrant, versatile, young emerging face on the traditional music scene. Steph has been described by Irish Music Magazine as “one of the most promising young flute players around”. She has performed and toured extensively with critically acclaimed artists such as: The Chieftains, Gaelforce Dance, and Líadan.  

Gig starts @ 9.30pm cover charge 15 euros/12 euros concession

www.blackboxmusic.ie


Tuesday 5th October
Aindrias De Staic

Go to fullsize image

Aindrias De Staic has been described in the media as 'a captivating yarn-spinner', but he is also an accomplished musician and actor having won the Best Actor award at the Geelong Film Festival (Australia) for "Malarkey" (dir Joe Loh 2006) and The Galway Music Award 2007.

Born in Galway Ireland, his rich n rare style of fiddle playing is as unique to the west of Ireland as his story-telling, antics and humor.

Aindrias is well known internationally for his one man theatre show "Around the World on 80 quid" which won Best Solo Show at New Zealand Fringe and rave reviews thoughout Australia. "Around the World on 80 quid" also got Aindrias the nomination for Most Outstanding Performer at the Dunedin Fringe Festival 2008.

Gig starts @ 9.30pm cover charge 15 euros/12 euros concession

www.aindrias.com


Wednesday 6th October
Tony Reidy
Singer/Songwriter

CD Launch @ 6.45pm
"Hayshed Days"



He is a gifted painter of word pictures, and a dab hand at fitting lyrics to a well structured tune and like a good wine, improving with age.
Aidan O'Hara ....'Irish Music Magazine'
 

www.myspace.com/tonyreidy
  
Also evening gig @ 9.30pm
THE 4 OF US

album_fingerprints_thumb.jpg
The music brims with a palpable sense of the past, the acoustic guitars evoking a grand old era of folk, blues and R&B. The Newry lads have matured with the music and deliver such songs as Wildflower, Free Spirit, Sweet Love and Anything Can Happen with an accomplished sense of time and place. And there’s room for the odd splash of brilliance, particularly on Dive In The River and the wryly Dystopian What’s To Come.
Irish Times

THE 4 OF US vocalist Brendan Murphy always possessed one of Irish music’s most distinctive voices, a gorgeous timbre that expressed more wistful regret and yearning romanticism that most AOR crooners could work up in a lifetime.  He uses it to great effect on the Newry band’s fifth album, from the bouzouki-led What’s To Come, the ravishing Into Your Arms, and the falsetto-rich Sweet Love. Then comes Blue, a fragile piano interlude that’ll crack your heart wide open.It’s possibly the best thing the Murphy brothers have composed yet.


Gig starts @ 9.30pm cover charge 15 euros/12 euros concession

www.THE4OFUS.com


Thursday 7th October
FIDIL

Go to fullsize image

TG4 young musician of the Year 2003, fiddle player Ciaran Maonaigh hails from the Gaoth Dobhair gaeltacht in Co. Donegal. He was heavily influenced by his extended family when growing up including his teacher Francie Mooney, Altan members Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh and Frankie Kennedy, Derry fiddle player Dermot McLaughlin as well as the Donegal fiddle legend John Doherty amongst others.

From Dunkineely, Co.Donegal, Aidan O'Donnell has been described as one of the finest young Irish musicians at present.  His incredible technical ability combined with his deep love of the music of his ancestors will see him become one of the most influential Donegal fiddle players of this generation.

Damien McGeehan began playing Irish traditional music at the age of seven. Citing the Donegal style of fiddling as his main influence, he has toured Ireland, Great Britain, Italy, Australia and Scandanavia.

Gig stars @ 8.30pm cover charge 15 euros/12 euros concession

www.fidilmusic.com

***********************************************************************************************************************

Tuesday 9th November
Pierre Bensusan
1 night only

 

Pierre's new album is a showcase of his rich and multi-cultural world, where guitar instrumentals share the spectrum with songs (in French and English). Most lyrics are written by his wife, Doatea Cornu Bensusan, who also shares with Pierre the production of this album, as in his previous albums. The words that Pierre sings are about freedom, tolerance, human interactions, fears, challenges, initiation and transformation, combined with original music that covers a vast ground where spirituality and geography are always combined in unique tapestries.

Pierre's process is almost always the same. Ideas come to maturity after years of incubation, and find their way to the fretboard and into written scores. All the music of Vividly is original, and arrangements will be available from this website, in the original DADGAD tuning, but also gradually in Standard tuning, transcribed by Roland Gallery.

A great night promised!

Doors open @ 8pm
www.pierrebensusan.com

******************************************************************************************************************************

Thursday 18th November

Kieran Goss


Goss’s brand of folk/pop that borders on alternative is tender and insightful, honest and raw, and shows a songwriting talent of great depth.


He has a natural way with a melody and the enviable knack of crafting songs that never outstay their welcome and sound like they’ve been around forever.

Not to be missed!
Doors open @ 8pm
www.kierangoss.com 



*****************************************************************************************************************************


Wednesday 1st December
Sean Tyrrell



Sometime in the latter part of the 18th century, Brian Merryman wrote a poem in Irish called “Cuirt an Mhean Oiche”. After Frank O’Connor translated it into English in 1945, the work was banned by the British Censorship Board. The forgetfulness of a tourist who left behind in a hostel I was care-taking a copy of a David Marcus translation led me to stage what was regarded as the hit of the Galway Arts Festival in 1992 when it was first produced by the Druid Theater Company.
Since then, it has
gone on to tour with more than 150 performances throughout Ireland.

"The poem was given a dramatic presentation with all the boost and blast-off that song and music and topical allusion can provide. The psychosexual demons were no longer at bay but rampant and fully recognized.
Orpheus had been re-membered in Ireland”

Seamus Heaney - Nobel Poet Laureate
Free raffel on night 10 cd's to win
Doors open @ 8pm
www.seantyrrell.com

************************************************************************************************************************