Michelle O’Brien, Peter Brown, and Paul Meehan

A full-house on Sunday night in Tutty's for the closing gig featuring Michelle O’Brien (on fiddle), Peter Brown (on accordian & guitar), and Paul Meehan (on guitar & banjo) made taking pictures difficult and necessitated snatching shots from between bodies & over shoulders, but the pace & intensity of the tunes and the impact they had on the audience would have been impossible to capture anyway.






(No tune called Maid at the swimming pool was played during this performance, despite the influence of Florida on Peter's mind)


Paul playing Liz Carrol's The Island of Woods

Alyth McCormack

Alyth McCormack, from the Isle of Lewis, led the Sunday afternoon singing session in Tutty's (seated beside Kevin Conneff, with whom she has performed with many times in the Chieftains). A superb communicator & story teller, as well as a delicate, honest & moving singer, Alyth held the room still with her voice while both talking and singing.

Buille

Buille - on a high of anticipation about Armagh's (since realised) chances of All Ireland victory the next day - polished off Saturday night at the Ardenode with their thrilling, precise, intense & always catchy layering of traditional music (most of which were composed by one Vallely or another, it seemed) with bluesy, jazzy and even pop-like licks.

Frankie Lane

Mr Frankie Lane (as well as doing the sound & lighting for the nigh) put on a great one-man show in the Ardenode. He intro's were full of his trademark dry humour (dobro with a fada!) and the singing and playing were totally satisfying, but what came across most strongly was his genuine respect and love for so many great Irish musicians whom he has played with down the years, his love of travel and cultural variety, and his intense relationship with the awesome American tradition.



Frankie putting on the voice of the slow-talking Gael Linn producer who would "have ... to ... come ... back ... to ... you ... in ... a ... week ... or ... so" about the idea of naming his album Resophonia.





Frankie playing his favourite instrument, the dobro.

Arc

In great form, as usual, Arc opened the Saturday night concert in the Ardenode Hotel, Ballymore Eustace (reflecting the difficulty with venues in Hollywood).

They put on a great performance, including some French, Swedish and American (a Robert Johnson number performed solo by Joe) tunes & songs among the Irish material (which included a tune composed by Eric-the-organiser called Mood Swings).

Steve Larkin, Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh & Billy MagFhlionn

Steve, Muireann & Billy led the session in Tutty's on Saturday afternoon.



They were quickly joined by others and a good variety of instruments, including Eric-the-organiser on mandolin





a Jew's harp



and a second flute played by Johnny from Arc.




(Thanks to Eoghan Conor for additional pic taking)

Emer Mayock & Donal Siggins joined by Cormac Breatnach

Eric Greaves opens the 2009 Music Under the Mountains festival in the Hollywood Inn, Hollywood, Co Wicklow.


Emer & Donal kicked the music off, later joined by Cormac in a night of superb music.





















































The lighting was blighting for photographs, the mirror in the background was a flash nightmare, and the microphones (as usual) got in the way, but none of that affected the musicians. It was a stunning gig to open the festival and although the numbers attending were down it didn't have any impact on the music, which was all the more special as so much of it was composed by the performers themselves.

Get To Know the Artist: Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh

Big buzz in county Wicklow, where for our delight

Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh

singer, flautist and pianist will perform at the Hollywood Irish Traditional Music Festival

From Muireann biography we know that she "grew up immersed in the vibrant West-Kerry tradition with its wild dance music, soulful slow airs and vast repertoire of songs. Musician and lead singer from the traditional music group Danu. She is a regular contributor to television and radio programmes at home and abroad, she featured prominently in the"Highland Sessions" BBC television series, celebrating the best of Irish and Scottish traditional music and song. She also co-hosted and performed at the 2007 and 2009 Gradaim Cheoil TG4 and has presented many music programmes. Muireann is extremely sought after both as a vocalist and flute player and has collaborated with many musicians at home and abroad such as Julie Fowlis, Darrell Scott, Liam Clancy and The Bulgarian Women’s Choir. She released her solo album 'Daybreak: Fáinne an Lae' in 2006 to great acclaim. Her most recent recording, "Dual" is a collaborative project with Julie Fowlis, Éamon Doorley and Ross Martin exploring the links between Irish and Scots Gaelic music and song"

To Listen Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh enchanting voice, join us at the

2009 Irish Traditional Music Festival in Hollywood, Co Wicklow

Get To Know the Artist: Steve Larkin at the 2009 Hollywood Music Festival

Fantastic fiddle player, we are pleased to welcome once more Steve Larkin at the Hollywood Music Festival 2009

Steve is a fiddle player from Wexford who plays, tours and records with many Irish musicians. Over the years he has been involved in many projects, including performing and recording with Dublin accordion player John Connolly, multi-instrumentalist Donal Siggins, flautist Emer Mayock and Mick Kinsella, with whom he is currently developing a duet album.

In 2008 he performed in Running Beast, a newly composed music theatre piece with music by Micheal Holohan and text by Donal O’Kelly. Running Beast also featured Mick O Brien on pipes, Maire Breathnach and Robbie Harris among others.
Some other musical projects include working on the soundtrack for the TV production ‘Billy Connolly’s Tour of Scotland, Ireland and Wales’ with Mick Kinsella and Damien Gallagher and developing ‘the third twin’ a recording of newly composed Irish music with Eoin Dillon, Frank Tate and Des Cahalan. A second album from ‘the third twin’ will be released in 2009.
He is recently considering the invention of a fiddle you can stand in.

To Listen Steve playing join us, Saturday 19th of September in Tuttys, Hollywood, Co Wicklow

Festival line-up for September 2009

Friday 18th
Hollywood Inn at 9.00 p.m.

Emer Mayock, Donal Siggins, Cormac Breathnach, (flutes, low whistles, bouzuki)

Saturday 19th
Tuttys at 2.00 p.m

Steve Larkin and friends

Ardenode Hotel 8.30p.m

Arc, Frankie Lane and Buille

Sunday 20th
Tuttys at 12.00 p.m
Alyth McCormack from Isle of Lewis to host the singing session

Tuttys at 8.00 p.m.
Michelle O'Brien, Peter Brown, and Paul Meehan (fiddle, accordion and guitar)