FolkWorld #60 07/2016
© Fiddler's Green Festival


Fiddler's Green Hall of Fame

Brian & Eithne Vallely

The Fiddler's Green Hall of Fame Award, designed by the late and much loved Rostrevor artist, Jim Sherry, is presented annually to a person or group who has made a significant contribution to the cause of Irish music and culture. How fitting then that in our 30th Anniversary year the recipients of the award are a husband and wife who have been the driving force behind the internationally acclaimed Armagh Pipers Club, which this year celebrates its 50th birthday.
2016 Brian & Eithne Vallely
2015 Seamus Begley & Steve Cooney
2014 Cherish the Ladies
2013 Sharon Shannon
2012 The MacConnell Brothers
2011 Paddy Glackin
2010 Matt Molloy
2009 Mairtin O'Connor
2008 Mary Black
2007 Sweeney's Men
2007 The McPeakes
2006 Cathal Hayden
2005 Donal Lunny
2004 Paddy Moloney
2003 The Boys of the Lough
2002 Ronnie Drew
2001 Andy Irvine
2000 The Sands Family
1999 Finbar Furey
1998 Altan
1997 De Dannan
1996 The Dubliners
1995 Dolores Keane
1994 The Clancy Brothers
1993 Liam O'Flynn
1992 Maire Brennan
1991 Mick Moloney
1990 Joe Burke
1989 Tommy Makem
1988 David Hammond
1987 Sean Maguire
Fiddler's Green Creative Arts Award

Mickey MacConnell

The Fiddler's Green Creative Arts Award was established by the Festival in 2000 to acknowledge achievements in the Arts and Literary fields. The magnificent bronze award, crafted by leading Irish Sculptor Carolyn Mulholland and first awarded to Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney, will this year be handed over to one of the finest songwriters in Ireland. Mickey MacConnell has become known throughout the world for his songs, including “Only our rivers run free”.
2016 Mickey MacConnell
2015 The Quiet Meadow Makers
2014 Martin Lynch
2013 Bill Whelan
2012 John Sheahan
2011 Liam O’Maonlaí
2010 Tom Paxton
2009 Siubhan O Dubhain
2008 Pete Seeger
2007 Steve Cooney
2006 Ralph McTell
2005 Michael O Suilleabhain
2004 Tom Newman
2003 Liam Clancy
2002 Tony McAuley
2001 John B Vallely
2000 Seamus Heaney

Fiddler's Green Festival

Fiddler's Green Festival

Rostrevor, Co. Down
Northern Ireland

24 - 31 July 2016
The Sands Family
Lunasa
Casey Sisters 
Four Men & A Dog
Lynched
Mairtin O'Connor
Luka Bloom
...
Artist Video www.fiddlersgreen
festival.co.uk

Sands Family

30 Years in the Making

30th Fiddler's Green Festival: 8 days, over 100 events, nightly folk club, outdor ceilis, open air stage, lunchtime & early evening music clubs, art exhibitions, literary pub crawl, walks, talks, full children's programme, ...

The Fiddler’s Green Festival has come a long way in the last 30 years. It began as a one day event, progressed to a weekend and now extends to eight days and seven nights of music, culture and craic. With up to 200 events the festival caters for music fanatics, families who wish to enjoy a safe, child focused festival, and those who come just to soak up the scenery, the friendliness and the free outdoor music.

The festival began, as it has continued, from inside the community. There is no sense of a big, promoter-ridden event being imposed on the place. The programme traditionally includes a duck derby, for heaven’s sake, and very popular it has been, too.

There are art exhibitions, coffee mornings and a ‘dander’ up to Fiddler’s Green, an actual place on the mountainside above the village. (Fiddler’s Green is a small clearing at the southern edge of the Oakwood. It was once a focal point for local entertainment.) That event, always occurring on the first official day of the festival, defines in many ways what this festival has that many others lack: a true sense of place.

It is a place apart; different from the nearby city of Newry or even Warrenpoint, which are both much larger and somehow more ambitious places. The Rostrevor festival, however, punches well above its weight, in terms of the artists it attracts and the international visitors who plan their yearly holidays around this week.

There are a whole host of events available for all of the family to enjoy, from ceilis and traditional music sessions in Rostrevor’s many pubs to nightly entertainment on the open air stage in the village square. There are also art exhibitions, a full programme of children’s entertainment, guided walks and the now famous literary pub crawl. All musical tastes are catered for (folk, blues, country, classical), with lunchtime, early evening and night time folk clubs

Each year the festival makes two very special presentations. The Fiddler’s Green Creative Arts Award is presented in recognition of achievement in Arts and Literature with past recipients including the Nobel-prize winning poet and playwright Seamus Heaney, while the Fiddler’s Green Hall of Fame Award is presented in recognition of contribution to Irish music and culture, with notable previous recipients including The Dubliners, The Clancy Brothers, Maire Brennan and Dolores Keane.


Lynched

Artist Video Lynched @ FolkWorld:
FW#55, #56


www.lynchedmusic.com

Lunasa

Artist Video Lunasa @ FolkWorld:
FW#5, #26, #27, #28, #30,
#32, #33, #37, #42, #52, #55

www.lunasa.ie

Mairtin O'Connor

Artist Video Mairtin O'Connor @ FolkWorld:
FW#22, #24, #38, #39, #40, #40

Four Men & A Dog

Artist Video Four Men & A Dog @ FolkWorld:
FW#39, #39, #39, #40,
#40, #50, #58, #59





Photo Credits: (1) Fiddler's Green Festival, (3) Brian & Eithne Vallely, (4) Mickey MacConnell, (5) Lynched, (8) Four Men & A Dog (unknown/website); (2) The Sands Family (by Christian Moll); (6) Lunasa, (7) Mairtin O'Connor (by Walkin' Tom).


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