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 MaguireFiddler's Green Creative Arts Award
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
The Sands Family Lunasa Casey Sisters Four Men & A Dog Lynched Mairtin O'Connor Luka Bloom ...
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.
|
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).