The Kilfenora Céilí Band have announced their 2024 tour, including shows at The National Concert Hall, Dublin on 16 March and Leisureland, Galway on March 22. We asked band leader, banjo and mandolin player John Lynch the BIG questions . . .
The band will be joined by special guests Clare singer Fiona Ryan and Don Stiffe as well as a troupe of dancers each of whom previously performed with Riverdance on their new tour.
114 years in the business, The Kilfenora Céilí Band started playing village parties in the early 1900s and now has an international profile.
The band originated in the late 1800s. At the time, music was an important feature of life in rural Ireland. Kilfenora boasted a fine brass band, which gradually evolved into a dance band.
Kilfenora Céilí Band play: 5 January – Glór, Ennis, 4 February - Tintean Theatre, Ballybunion, 16 March - National Concert Hall, Dublin, 17 March - Watergate Theatre, Kilkenny, 22 March - Leisureland Galway, 5 April - Woodford Dolmen, Carlow, 20 April- Mount Errigal Hotel, Letterkenny, 28 April – Kilfenora Open Air Céilí, 1 June - Fleadh Nua, Ennis.
Tickets are available here.
Tell us three things about yourself . . .
I was born in Kilfenora, Co. Clare. Married to Noreen with four children Patrick, John, deceased R.I.P, Michael and Íde. I am a retired secondary school teacher. I spent 19 years teaching in Naas and Clane in Co Kildare and the rest teaching in Limerick city. Presently in the middle of organising our upcoming series of shows in glór, Tintean, The National Concert Hall, Watergate Theatres, Mount Errigal Hotel, and a host of others. Making sure there is food for the rehearsals. When our bunch get hungry things can very quickly deteriorate. Would really like to take the band to some more foreign venues. Really enjoyed Glastonbury, Lincoln Centre, Milwaukee Irish Fest when we performed there. They have given me wanderlust.
How would you describe your music?
Its core repertoire is dance music, punctuated with an incomparable lift and rhythm, defines an unbroken tradition that dates from the beginning of the twentieth century. Despite this link with the past, our recent recordings and concert performances point to a broadening of the perceived boundaries of the genre. Collaborations with a diverse range of song and dance artists, experimentation with repertoire outside of the dance domain and complex harmonic arrangements speak to an ensemble who are pioneering new and exciting performance contexts for the céilí band genre. The creative and imaginative processes at play, clearly demonstrate that tradition is certainly not defined by stasis. While acknowledging and incorporating the past, we, in the Kilfenora thrive on creativity and innovation.
Who are your musical inspirations?
All past members of The Kilfenora Céilí Band and all Céilí Bands, Lynch family, Kitty Linnane, Kieran Hanrahan, Jim Ward, The Bothy Band, Stockton's Wing, De Danann, Frankie Gavin, Sean McGuire, John Carty, Teresa O'Grady, Muireann Banks, John Prine, Elaire O’Reilly, James Last,. Nanna Mouscouri.
What was the first gig you ever went to?
The Carpenters in Los Angeles. 1973. I was staying with my Uncle Michael Drennan and working for the summer there before going to college.
What was the first record you ever bought?
Songs of Leonard Cohen, 1974.
What’s your favourite song right now?
Fairy Tale of New York by Kirsty MacColl and The Pogues.
Favourite lyric of all time?
"And in the morning all the guns boomed in the rain we killed them and they killed us again, with bayonet, bomb, bullet, gas and flame and neither we nor they at all to blame" from the song A Silent Night (Christmas 1915) by Cormac Mac Connell sung by Jerry Lynch from his album Dimming of the Day, outlining the futility of war.
If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be?
There is a place in my Heart by Nanna Mouscouri.
Where can people find your music/more information?
Our website, Facebook and Instagram.
Alan Corr
