Ballina features in Fleadh Cheoil retrospective

At a time when large crowd gatherings are restricted due to the coronavirus, a new six-part series looks back at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann events from the past – including the two Fleadhanna in Ballina in 1997 and '98.

The first episode – on Sunday next, August 16, at 9.30 p.m. – is from Listowel, Co. Kerry, and was recorded 25 years ago, in 1995.

Listowel was seen by many as the spiritual home of the Fleadh, where the square provided a natural backdrop for spontaneous street sessions for musicians and an ease of listening for Fleadh followers.

The second programme again comes from Listowel, with the next two coming from the Fleadh’s first visit to Ballina in 1997 and 1998. In 1999 and 2000 the Fleadh visited Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, for the first time since 1967.

Among the featured musicians are Joe Burke, Brendan McGlinchey, Zoe Conway, Brendan Begley, Liz and Yvonne Kane, John and Pip Murphy, John Whelan, Jim McKillop, the groups Danú and Dervish, and The Kilfenora, The Bridge and Táin Céilí Bands.

Episodes three and four – both from Ballina – will be shown at 9.30 p.m. on August 30 and September 6, respectively.

In episode three, Pat Butler and Breda Smyth look back at the first ever Fleadh from Ballina in 1997. The show featuries Sean Smyth, Alan Kelly and Cathy Jordan, Eamonn Walsh, Brenda McCann and Grainne Hambly, Diarmaid O'Brien, Tony O'Connell and Tony O'Rourke, Ned Kelly, Joanna Meehan, Tim Collins, Tom Morrow, Dermot Crewe and James O’Grady, Brian Fitzgerald, Ronan Ryan, Padraig Rynne and Padraig O’Reilly, Paul McGlinchey and MacDara Ó Raghallaigh, Paddy Canny, Danú, Cathal Hayden, Donal Murphy and Kevin Murphy, and The Bridge Céilí Band.

The following week, Pat and Breda are back to look at the second Fleadh in Ballina in 1998, when many thousands made the journey to the banks of the Moy. This show features The McNamara Family, The Deane Family, Shiela and Clodagh Boylan with Tom Kenna, Paudie O’Connor, Aine Heanann and Siobhan Ní Chonarain, Liz and Yvonne Kane, Mirella Murray and Kevin Hough, Francis O’Connor, Aine Ní Chonaill and Kevin Murphy, Liam Kelly, Padraig, Morell and Seamus O’Kane, Anthony Quigney and Denis Liddy, Osna, Niall Keegan, Brendan Ring and John Gaughan, Paul O’Shaughnessy, and PJ Hernon’s Swallows Tail.

*Pictured above, musicians performing an outdoor session at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann 1998 in Ballina.