In Mayo this morning, Dr Charlie Lennon, the traditional musician and composer now based in Spiddal, will play his latest composition, Ceide Fields, at the venue of the same name. This is the eight event in the nationwide millennium project, entitled Ceol Reoite: Frozen Music, for which the Minister for Arts, Heritage, the Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms de Valera, has commissioned contemporary Irish musicians to compose a signature tune.
The tune is intended to celebrate monuments and historic projects managed by Duchas, the Heritage Service. The title derives from Goethe's dictum, "architecture is frozen music".
The Lennon recital starts at noon today at the Ceide Fields Visitor Centre, Ballycastle, Co Mayo, and among the performers will be Matt Molloy, the flautist.
Calling all Lamberts or relatives of the unionist politician Sir Edward Carson. The community of Athenry in Co Galway is holding a symposium this coming weekend to celebrate the family's connection with the area.
The symposium started out as a project in Athenry's Carnaun school. The Lambert family formerly owned lands around the school, and lived in Castle Lambert, one mile west, and Castle Ellen, one mile east. Snippets of information were part of the local folklore: Walter Eyre Lambert was a founder member of the Galway Blazers in 1839, and Isabella Lambert was mother of Sir Edward Carson.
Walter Peter Lambert, affectionately known as "Watty", sold Castle Ellen in 1923 to the Land Commission and moved to Oughterard.
Carnaun National School has set up a website, and the symposium aims to gather more information for its research. The event opens this Friday, with a walking tour of Athenry led by Prof Etienne Rynne.
For information and registration details, contact carnaun.ias@tinet.ie or write to the Lambert Project Society, c/o Finbarr O'Regan, Swangate, Athenry, Co Galway.