The O’Carolan Harp and Traditional Music Festival will take place in Keadue this weekend commencing Friday at 7.30pm.
The Festival was started in Keadue in 1978, to commemorate the famous Harper Turlough O’Carolan who lived in the area and is buried beside Keadue. Keadue is a small village of 200 people located on the shores of Lough Meelagh at the foot of the Arigna Mountains. The Festival includes Concerts, Ceili, Tuition on the Harp, Set Dancing, Harp Recitals and a Harp Competition sponsored every year since we began by local business Arigna Fuels Ltd.
This year the winner of the Senior Harp Competition will receive a specially engraved trophy, plus a cash prize. Turlough O’Carolan was a renowned Harper and Composer and his memory is celebrated not alone in Keadue but throughout the world by so many musicians who play his music.
Among the groups that have played at the O’Carolan Harp Festival over the years include The Chieftains, Sharon Shannon , Maire Ni Chathasaigh and Chris Newman, The Belfast Harp Orchestra, Grainne Yeats, Derek Bell, Harpers Bazaar, Stocktons Wing, De Danann, Foster & Allen, Arcady, Dervish, Skylark, Birken Tree & Patrick Street to name but a few. During our thirty plus years , we have hosted artistes from all over Europe , Japan , USA , Canada and Australia in their musical pilgrimage to Ireland.
