WHAT'S ON: Carlow all set to host the 50th Pan Celtic International Festival!

The International Pan Celtic Festival is coming to Carlow and the entire

community is looking forward to the kick off on Tuesday, 2nd April. The flags

are flying, the bunting and banners are hanging, accommodation is at capacity

and the town is ready for a whole five days and nights of fun, friendship,

sharing and celebration from 2nd to 6th April.

A massive programme of some 200 official and fringe events mostly free of

charge has been prepared by the organising committee to celebrate this the 50 th

Pan Celtic festival with lots of music, dance, concerts, choirs, exhibitions, the

festival parade, StreetFest, the Garda Band, the Kilfenora Céilí Band, live

music @The Exchange, busking and lots lots more. 

Pan Celtic is an annual gathering of the Celts at Easter time to celebrate and

share the rich heritage, culture and language of the participating nations through

music, song, dance, storytelling, poetry, sport, craft, art and friendship. This is

the 6 th time that Carlow has the honour of hosting the prestigious festival.

Hundreds of overseas visitors are expected in Carlow over the 5 days travelling

by coach, ferry and plane from Wales, Scotland, Brittany, Cornwall and The

Isle of Man as well as numerous domestic visitors from across Ireland.

Pan Celtic ’24 will kick off on Tuesday, 2 April with the Official Launch &

Opening Concert from 7pm in Visual and the GB Shaw Theatre. A limited

amount of seating is available in the theatre at €10 from www.visualcarlow.ie

but to cater for everybody the proceedings will be beamed live to the overflow

attendance in the bar area and will also be streamed live on

facebook.com/pancelticfestival. The concert will feature an eclectic mix of

items showcasing the best of the cultures of the six participating nations in

music, song and dance while The Mezz@ Dinn Rí will be the venue later that

evening at 9pm for the Opening Trad Session of the festival.

Coming up with the kind of budget required to fund a festival as broad as Pan

Celtic and particularly on two consecutive years has been challenging according

to Bríde de Róiste of the organising committee. “Carlow Co. Council and the

Local Enterprise Office are main funders of Pan Celtic ‘24 while the support of

NUA Glenveagh Company brings a welcome addition to the coffers” said Bríde.

Continuing she said “We are especially grateful to those elected members of

Carlow Municipal District who have come on board to generously support this

year’s festival while other sponsors include Foras na Gaeilge, Plazamont Ltd

and an tOireachtas”.

Amongst the highlights of the main official Pan Celtic programme will be the

Pan Celtic International Song Contest when six newly composed songs, each in

its own celtic language, representing the six participating nations will compete

in the grand final on Thursday, 4 th April in Visual. Flying the flag for Ireland

and hoping to walk away with the coveted trophy and a cash prize of €1,500

will be singer songwriter Éabha Breathnach from Connemara with her own

composition “Na Pictiúir ar an mBalla”.

There will be several other interceltic competitions including traditional and

folk singing, traditional dance, harp and fiddle, piping and drumming as well as

the festival’s distinctive choral competitions. The focus on Saturday, 6 th April

will be the choral competitions in St. Mary’s Academy CBS Hall when some

12 amazing choirs from Wales, Scotland and Ireland will compete in a range of

categories including male, female, mixed, rural and community choirs.

Meanwhile, the choral concert on Friday night at 7.30pm in Carlow Cathedral

will be an opportunity for the public to sample a selection of popular choral

pieces performed by some of the visiting choirs.

Highlights of the fringe programme during the festival will include the

Lunchtime Concerts on Wednesday and Thursday from 1-2pm in St. Mary’s

Church, Haymarket. The double bill on Wednesday will feature musician and

singer John Spillane and locally based Indeceltic duo Anna Tanvir & Maninder

Singh. Rooted in people, place and history, John Spillane’s music transports the

listener and his live performances captivate audiences the world over while the

mixed cultural heritage of Indeceltic go beyond language and physical boundary

to create a soul stirring musical experience for the individual. Carlow’s own

talented group of female singers enCÓRe supported by Asophonics will

entertain at lunchtime on Thursday.

A major addition to the community entertainment programme this year will be

Live @the Exchange with free afternoon sessions on the Wednesday, Thursday

and Friday featuring a host of local and visiting talent. Bands from Wales,

Scotland, Brittany and Cornwall will perform while the Carlow Ukulele Players,

Fiach Moriarty, Music Generation and Burnchurch family group will also

entertain at The Exchange.

All roads will lead to the Woodford Dolmen Hotel on Friday, 5 th April when the

great Kilfenora Céilí Band will play for the festival céilí. This rare visit of the

Kilfenora to the midlands will also provide a welcome opportunity for the

band’s many fans who may not be set dancers but who wish to experience live

the band’s distinctive style of music.

The Garda Band will be guests of Pan Celtic on Thursday at 2pm when under

the baton of Supt. Pat Kenny they will perform an outdoor concert at The

Fountain weather permitting and otherwise under cover in The Exchange.

There will be Open Mic Sessions @ Pembroke Club D’Art on Wednesday,

Thursday and Saturday afternoons where a host of singers, musicians,

storytellers and raconteurs will be invited by host Bernard Jennings to step up to

the mic. Daily walking tours of Carlow will be led by members of Carlow

Archaeological and Historical Society while there will be storytelling sessions

galore with Aideen McBride and Deirdre O’Byrne, Colin Urwin at Lamberts,

Carlow Storytellers in the library and Ceatharlach Rambling House in Scraggs

Alley. Free daily dance workshops will be based in the Tower@Dinn Rí where

basic steps in highland, sean-nós and Breton dance will be delivered while the

Adeleine Dargan Dancers are looking forward to a hectic schedule throughout

the week. To mark the 50 th anniversary of Pan Celtic, a bilingual lecture entitled

“Endangered Minority Languages” will be delivered by Dr. Alexandra Philibin

on Thursday, 4 th April in The Carlovian Room, Teach Dolmain which will also

be the venue earlier in the day for the Gaidhlig Singing class and the chance to

learn a Scottish Gaelic song or two from award winning Scottish Singers

Caitríona & Isabelle Bain (Isle of Lewis) and Ian Beggs (Isle of Barra) – all

Royal National Mód Traditional Singing Gold Medallists.

A range of festival exhibitions running throughout Pan Celtic will include

paintings by the Barrow Valley Artists in the Shaw Room at Carlow Library,

award winning lace creations by the Borris Lace Makers in the Museum, a

photographic exhibition and memorabilia related to the majestic Duckett’s

Grove will be mounted in the festival office at Potato Market while Made in

Carlow will have the best of local art and craft on display to impress the

hundreds of visitors to the shop on Tullow Street.

A huge array of free entertainment will be on offer in several local pubs and

venues including The Irishman’s, Tully’s, Scraggs Alley, Harry Burke’s, Dinn

Rí, Teach Dolmain, Waterlilies and Carpe Diem with visiting bands and local

artistes included in their exciting line ups while a choral crawl of hostelries is on

the menu for the Saturday afternoon.

Carlow will be a language mecca with a great mix of celtic sounds shared

formally and informally throughout the week. The regular Wednesday Irish

Conversation Circle will continue in Lamberts while Scraggs Alley will be the

venue for a date with the Isle of Man visitors for a taste of Manx music, song

and language and there will be an opportunity to learn some Scottish Gaelic

phrases at the taster session with Martainn Mac a’ Bhaillidh from Skye who

actually wrote the Duolingo Gaelic Course. Angela Keogh will host the

multilingual Court of Poetry in Lamberts Café welcoming poets and writers

from the various nations while there will be an opportunity to join Dr. Alasdair

C. Whyte of the University of Glasgow for an hour of Fianna stories and place-

names from his native Hebridean island of Muile.

An exciting aspect of this year’s festival will be the weekend StreetFest with

Lower Tullow Street going pedestrian from 11am on Friday and Saturday and

will facilitate music and colour on the main thoroughfare with the Festival

Parade on Friday at 2pm when musicians, singers and dancers from the various

delegations will depart the grounds of Carlow College waving their nations’

flags and props and banners. Led by the Killeshin Pipe Band the parade will be

via Potato Market, Kennedy Avenue, Burrin Street and finish on Lower Tullow

Street for post parade performances while a selection of celtic bands will also be

on hand to perform indoors at The Exchange. The organisers of Park Run

Carlow will welcome early risers on Saturday morning at 9.30am to the Town

Park for a multilingual 5k Park Run Abú while the StreetFest will continue with

the Busking Competition at 1pm to guarantee plenty of talent in the town centre

with competitors competing for prizemoney of up to €800.

The committee hopes that all visitorsand participants will have a most enjoyable

time and a great holiday and that the people of Carlow will enter into the spirit

of the festival by extending a céad míle fáilte to everybody while enjoying the

colour, enthusiasm and vibrancy which Pan Celtic brings to town.

The full festival programme is available now on www.panceltic.ie or

www.facebook.com/pancelticfestival while hard copies are available from the

Festival office, Potato Market, Carlow Tourism, hotels and outlets throughout

the town.

Further Information? Drop into the Festival Office which will be on Potato

Market, call 087 2857048, 085 1340047 or email [email protected]