Garry Shannon is co-ordinating Meitheal, a new residential traditional music summer school, set to take place from July 12 through 16. The school is open to musicians over 13 years of age on January 1, 2004, and will consist of five days’ total immersion in Irish music at St. Flannan’s College, Ennis, Co. Clare.

Tutorship will be by top international performers such as Zoë Conway, Kevin Crawford, Niall Keegan, Siobhan Peoples, Kieran Hanrahan, Fergal Scahill, Derek Hickey and Micheál Ó Raghallaigh. A prior level of profiency is required – i.e. applicants must be already comfortably capable of playing jigs and reels.
Students will share their time between specialised workshops for their specific instrument, mixed-instrument concert bands and group sessions. The main instrument workshops will aim to teach technique, repertoire and an understanding of style, while concert band workshops will explore the art of composition and teach students how to put together an innovative performance of music with imaginative arrangement and harmony. Céilí band workshops give the opportunity to mix with different instruments and prepare a programme of music for dance to be performed at a céilí during the week.

A small number of experienced students may be invited to act as ‘associate tutors’ to help in the running of main instrument workshops. Students will also attend concerts given by the tutors and other artists, as well as various workshops and video presentations.
Fees range from E400 for tuition only to E500 for tuition and full board including all meals, and some scholarships are available. Further information and an application form can be downloaded from www.tradweek.com, or ring Garry on (065) 683 7379. Completed applications must be submitted by January 31, so act quickly.
Another summer learning option is offered by the first annual Floating Tionol, June 19-22, with uilleann piping lessons, reed-making workshops and maintenance sessions with a leading pipe maker aboard a traditional narrow boat on the upper reaches of the River Thames – plus pub sessions at a different location each evening. The boat will cruise from Oxford city to the head of the river and back, and you can also help crew the vessel – if you can find the time.

Quality sets of pipes can be hired and/or bought, and expert tuiton is offered for all levels. The price, including boat hire, full English breakfast, buffet lunch, all lessons and workshops as well as a reed-making kit, is £250 sterling. Places are limited, so early booking is advised. Contact Sean Lally by email on or [email protected] or ring +44 1865 727942 between 9am and 10pm GMT.
In further news on the educational front, a four-year programme leading to a BMus Honours degree course has been developed at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne in association with Folkworks. With a core teaching team comprising of Alistair Anderson, Sandra Kerr, Catriona MacDonald, Goffredo Plastino and Kathryn Tickell, the course deals with performance skills, historical and social context, music technology, arranging and composing, music business, teaching skills and music in contemporary culture. Find out more at (click on Folkworks).

Tommy Sands has just been invited by the Indian People’s Theatre Association to play India for the first time: “Apparently my songs are known out there,” he writes. “I could hardly believe it. Looking forward to going out for a March tour.”
Des Charleson reports that the Cliabhan Club will have its inaugural gathering for 2004 on Wednesday, January 28 in Conway’s, Parnell Street. The music starts at 9pm, and entry is E5. The club will continue on the last Wednesday of each month until May, when it will run twice monthly. “We don’t have the full line-up yet,” says Des, “but I can say there will be performances from the trio Zita (Argentinian tango music), Isabel Duggan (traditional folk song) accompanied by guitarist Shane McGowan, and songs in a jazzy folk vein from Eimear O’Kane (who also plays double bass) accompanied by Isabel Ní Chuireán on keyboards/accordion (and guitar, if she’s in the mood).”
Also starting up again for the new year is the Clé Club, which resumes on Monday, January 12 with the resident band The Liffey Banks and fear an tí Tom Crean. As always, singers from the floor will be welcome. Admission is E3, and the club meets at 9.15pm in The Connolly, Liberty Hall Centre, Eden Quay, Dublin 1.
Right about the time this magazine hits the newsstands, the University College Cork Traditional Music Society will be celebrating its 25th anniversary at UCC Tradfest 2004. As always, there’s a great line-up of concerts, sessions, the annual Ó Riada Lecture and the Tune Composition Competition, now in its fourth year running. This year will also see the first-ever Trad Disco on the Saturday night, with Boston DJ Brian Hanlon. The programme gets under way on Wednesday, January 28, with a free lunchtime concert and continues through Sunday, February 1; among the musicians featured are Siobhán Peoples and Murty Ryan, Micheál Ó Suilleabháin and Mel Mercier, Kevin Crawford & Friends, the Karan Casey Band, the Josephine Marsh Band, Four Men & A Dog, Ciarán Ó Maonaigh, Colin McGill and Brian Morrissey. For more information, email ceoltradisiunta@hotmail. com.

Nominations have been announced for 2004 Meteor Ireland Music Awards, scheduled to take place at the Point Theatre on Monday, March 1. Nominees for Best Folk/Traditional Act are Damien Dempsey, Cara Dillon, Kíla, Lúnasa and Sharon Shannon; for Best Irish Country/Roots Artist, nominees are Daniel O’Donnell, Frankie Lane, Damien Dempsey, Declan Nerney and Finbarr Furey. Unfortunately, these aren’t among the eight categories in which the public are invited to vote for their favourite artists or bands via text, so we’ll just have to sit back and wait to see who wins.

Musicians and singers with news to share can e-mail Sarah on [email protected]