Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann Ready to High Note Again

Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann is often described as the Olympics of Traditional Irish music, culture, song and dance. It is making a welcome return to Tullamore this year, following its phenomenal success in August 2007.

Date released: Monday, 11th May, 2009

Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann is often described as the Olympics of Traditional Irish music, culture, song and dance.

It is making a welcome return to Tullamore this year, following its phenomenal success in August 2007.

The 59^th Fleadh will take place between 16th August 2009 and 23rd August 2009 and is shaping up to be an even bigger and better event then previous two years.

The organising committee and its Chairperson, Attracta Brady, were delighted when the news was announced earlier this year that Tullamore was chosen once again to play host to the huge cultural event.

It is expected that the event will bring over 250,000 visitors, 10,000 performers and 131 competitions to the town of Tullamore over a nine day period.

It is one of the premier cultural events in Ireland and one of the largest in Europe. It began in 1951 and has increased in popularity and size over the past fifty years. It will include thousands of musicians, dancers and storytellers from all over Ireland, the UK, Europe, Asia, Australia and the USA.

Each year, the Fleadh provides a meeting place for those who carry on the great traditions of playing and cherishing our music, songs and dance. Following on from last year's event, Tullamore has in itself, now become known as great location to host such events.

The Fleadh includes Scoil Éigse, which comprises of a week of workshops and classes of Irish traditional music, song and dance and the Fleadh weekend follows.

Attracta points out: "The Fleadh Cheoil is an event of international acclaim and attracts publicity and visitors not just from Ireland but also from around the world. It brings together a phenomenal line up of traditional musicians from all over Ireland and beyond.

"On each night of the Fleadh, visitors will be treated to a fantastic atmosphere and plenty of traditional entertainment including street sessions of music, singing and dancing, two gig rigs where top class entertainers will enthral huge crowds."

Attracta enthuses that the event continues to go from strength to strength since the days when she attended them herself as a child and helps to keep and promote people's interest in traditional Irish culture as well as being an opportunity to come together and share their music, singing and dancing experiences and ideas with other people.

PRO, Karen O'Grady said: "Tullamore did us proud last year. They took the people attending the Fleadh to their hearts and gave many of them a memory of Tullamore and the Midlands that has been often described to me by some as unforgettable.

"We are urging people to come to the Fleadh. It is something not to be missed. It is an experience of a life time. The impromptus streets session, the craic agus ceol, is something that you may never see the likes of anywhere else.

"For anyone interested in music, history, culture, or just wishing to experience something magical, I would strongly advise them to come to Tullamore this August; even just to see what is going on."

The centre piece of the All Ireland Fleadh Cheoil is the competitions, which take place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 21st, 22nd and 2rd August next and these draw capacity crowds.

But, for many the public face of the Fleadh is the music sessions, which take place in every pub, hotel, cafe, doorway, street, and tent throughout the weekend.

“To undertake it for the third year is phenomenal and we are looking forward to people coming to Tullamore again. The Fleadh belongs to the people and 50 per cent of last year’s success was the huge extended by the people of Tullamore. And, people can expect the same cead mile fáilte when they come to the 2009 fleadh,” added Karen.

The organising committee have been hard at work over the past number of months putting together an exciting and dynamic programme for the 2009 event, which includes an opening parade and a largest traditional session attempt not to be missed.

Last year, it saw over two thousands musicians in O'Connor Square playing for almost an hour, it is hoped that more people will come to the event.

Attracta and Karen hope that people will return again to Tullamore and that anyone who didn't get the chance to travel to Tullamore last year will come to see what a great event the Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann an Tulach Mhór 2009 is.

Further further information on the forthcoming event, please contact the Fleadh office at Woodchester House, O'Connor Square, Tullamore, Co. Offaly on 057 93 25704, visit the website at www.fleadh2009.com or email the Fleadh at info@fleadh2009.com