Cork Folk Festival Concert 2012

Another Folk Festival, another concert.  We were delighted to take part in the Cork Folk Festival for another year with our usual slot in the Spailpin Fanach on the Saturday afternoon.  This year, the emphasis was on young pipers with the eldest piper only in his early 20’s.

Sarah Murphy kicked off proceedings with a couple of sets. Now, Sarah is only 10 and is playing the pipes for a year so she showed great enthusiasm and courage to get up on stage so soon in her piping career.

Next up were Naoise Marron on the pipes with accompaniment from Siofa on the fiddle.  This pair looked they had been on stage for years with a nod and a quick chat between sets to move onto the next tunes.

Joshua Sheahan and Meadhbh O’Leary-Fitzpatrick were up next and played some solos as well as tunes together. Joshua is a pupil of Rosaleen O’Leary and Meadhbh, who also plays the concertina to great effect but has taken up the pipes in recent times, is her daughter.  Maedhbh played her concertina on stage last year with her mother and the great Paddy Keenan was so impressed he requested that she join him on stage during his set that day.

Eoin Quinn was the penultimate piper on stage and even though he’s only 14 he’s no stranger to the stage having played at the lunchtime concert in the famed Willie Clancy week.  Eoin plays his Leo Rowsome set with confidence and assuredness far beyond his years and is certainly one to watch for in future.

The elder statesman of the bunch, Caoimhín O Fearghail, was the final piper on stage that evening.  ‘Sé Caoimhín Ceoltóir Óg na bliana seo a bhronnadh air ag Gradam Ceoil ar TG4, is féidir níos mó a fheiscint faoi seo ar an suíomh acu go h-áirithe timpeall 19 nóiméad isteach sa fís.  Caoimhín is the TG4 Young Musician of the year for 2012 and you can see more of this around the 19 minute mark in this video. This is a well deserved accolade as Caoimhín played a blinder of a set with a particular mention for Alain Froment who, as most pipers will know, passed away a number of years ago now.

The young pipers all came back on stage for a few more tunes at the end.  This won’t be the last time we see them on this, and many other, stage.

Big thank you to all the pipers who played and to John Murphy for single-handedly organising everything.

Finally, a number of long-term members of the club were enjoying themselves…