Music

Groove in earnest and expect the unexpected

The best traditional gigs this week range from trad on the prom to a five-piece band

Martin Hayes, fiddle, and Dennis Cahill, guitar are Masters of Tradition. Photograph: Erin Baiano

Siobhán Long's face
Siobhán Long August 18th 2017
Thu Aug 17 2017 - 17:00

SATURDAY 19th

The Murphy Beds The Model, Sligo 7.30pm €15/€12 themodel.ie – Composer and musician Emer Mayock curates a new series of music "Undercurrents – Divergent Paths in Contemporary Folk", which is running throughout the autumn and winter. The series features an imaginative and eclectic range of contemporary folk artists each exploring their contrasting influences and approaches to song, dance or music. The Murphy Beds (Jefferson Hamer and Eamon O'Leary) present traditional and original folk songs with close harmonies and deft instrumental arrangements on bouzouki, guitar and mandolin. Their collaborators in the past have included Beth Orton, Bonnie Prince Billy, Anais Mitchell and Sam Amidon, so expect the unexpected.

SUNDAY 20th

Moxie Glór, Ennis 11.30am and 8.30pm €8/€22 glor.ie – This five-piece band, all west of Irelanders, have a weakness for melding straight-up traditional sounds with world, jazz and progressive influences. They've forged quite a reputation for their high-octane live performances, and recently they also provided the music for the Prodijig, The Revolution, last year's reframing of Irish dance, produced by Cork Opera House. Bands like Moxie challenge punters to abandon their seats if they want to get into the groove in earnest.

SUNDAY 20th

Trad on the Prom Leisureland Theatre, Salthill, Galway (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays until September 28th) 8.30pm €30/€28/€25/€20/€15 tradontheprom.com – Summer music, song and dance spectacle featuring Máirín Fahy on fiddle and vocals, concertina master Pádraig Rynne, and a vast collective of dancers and instrumentalists. This thrice-weekly summer seasonal performance seeks out the ties that bind our traditional music and dance to the past and present. With bodhrán, whistles, uileann pipes, accordions, concertina, bouzuki, guitars and keyboards.

WEDNESDAY 23rd

Slow Moving Clouds will perform at the Masters of Tradition festival in Cork.

Masters of Tradition Various venues, Bantry (until August 27th) westcorkmusic.ie – Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill, Kate Ellis and Colin Dunne headline the opening concert in this year's Masters of Tradition festival: one of the most finely curated traditional music events of the summer. With Martin Hayes at the curatorial helm, this year's programme will feature the killer combination of early evening concerts followed by late night sessions with Micheál Ó Suilleabháin, Iarla Ó Lionáird, Mick O'Brien, Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh, Slow Moving Clouds and many others. This is a gathering that will repay dividends for those who can squeeze it into their calendar long after the summer light has faded.