Trad Festival To Take Place In The Midlands This April

Tuesday, 14 February 2023 15:47

Events will take place in different venues throughout the town.

Portlaoise Trad Fest will be taking place from Friday 28th April to Sunday 30th April.

Events will take place in different venues throughout the town.

The aim of the festival is to show the interest in traditional music in Laois.

In late 2022 Dale McKay approached Siobhan Buckley with the idea to create Portlaoise’s first ever fully fledged Irish Traditional Music Festival featuring a session trail, festival club, music workshops and concerts.

There is a team of musicians and teachers in place to bring the festival to life.

Speaking about the event, Dale McKay, Chairperson of the organising committee for Portlaoise Trad Fest said:

“County Laois has an amazing Irish Traditional Scene. Between the amazing tutorage from both Music Generation Laois and Comhaltas, the young players of the county are just outstanding. The Portlaoise Trad fest team feel it is the right time to showcase the amazing musicianship found in Laois on the national stage. Portlaoise Trad fest is for everyone. We here at Portlaoise Trad fest know how much fun and amazing Irish Traditional Music can be. It has the power to change lives and we want to bring that energy to the community at large and show the people of Portlaoise how brilliant and exciting our Traditional Music is. We are really looking forward to bringing the streets of Portlaoise alive with the sound of Irish Music over the May bank holiday weekend and we hope you will join us.”

The committee hopes to create a session trail which will inspire other musicians to join in.

As well as featuring local musicians, the Trad fest will also bring top quality musicians to ‘The Town’ and hopefully can inspire up and coming younger musicians.

The event will kick off on Friday 28th April with an opening concert in the Dunamaise Arts Centre featuring Sean Keane.

There will be a line-up of concerts, workshops, youth sessions, as well as a session trail, never before seen in Portlaoise, taking place over the course of the weekend.

Each night will culminate with the Festival club event in Lilly’s Bar featuring Trad Hits on Friday the 28th, Super Céilí on Saturday the 29th and The Young Wolfe Tones on Sunday the 30th.

To find out more about the event or to get involved, visit here, e-mail portlaoisetradfest@gmail.com or contact Dale McKay on 083 1040114.