| Banjo Burke Festival 
East Durham will again be a hotbed for traditional music and dance as
the leaves begin to turn in the Catskill Mountains region of New York
State.
The inaugural Joe “Banjo” Burke Festival, October 5-8, will
be unfurled to celebrate the life of the legendary Kilkenny banjoist and
singer, and to draw attention to the need for further research into Parkinson’s
Disease which claimed his life.
Sessions will be held the weekend long at many of the same Catskill resorts
that Joe Banjo’s booming voice once merrily filled. There will also
be workshops in traditional music, song and dance.
A mighty concert slated for Saturday evening, October 7 will feature the
Kane Sisters, Brian Conway and Felix Dolan, Grainne Hambly, Aine Meenaghan,
John Nolan, John Hogan Trio, Pat Kane and West O’Clare Band, and
a cracking good band from Boston assembled for the occasion starring,
Seamus Connolly, Larry and Mike Reynolds, Kathleen Conneelly and Jimmy
Noonan.
On Monday afternoon, a Columbus Day afternoon concert will showcase many
of the above plus Gabriel Donohue and Terry Kane, who will also assist
promising Gaelgoiri with workshops in Irish over the weekend.
Ceili dance lessons will be given early on Saturday by dance teacher and
musician Pat Kane, brother of the festival’s director, Bridget Burke,
who is Banjo’s widow, while more experienced set dancers will have
a Ceili interlude on Saturday night.
There will be hurling workshops on the Quill Centre pitch as well and
a long puck competition, to celebrate Joe’s love of hurling, as
well as a golf outing.
– By Paul Keating.
For more info. call: 607-225-9928
Website: www.joebanjoburke.org
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