From Verona to Galway: Inis Oírr man’s vision for a new festival

Beneath the Verona moon, MacDara Ó Conaola and the group he had brought together took to the stage for their final performance. The atmosphere was electric and the Inis Oírr singer recalled the night as “just magical”. “It finished so well, it was wonderful,” he said.

Now he hopes to create something of that same atmosphere in Galway.

Most of the group had not met before the trip. After days of singing, dancing and sharing Gaeltacht traditions with an Italian audience, they had become a team.

“Everybody was so relaxed. The audience relaxed. We were relaxed,” he recalled.

“I’m so proud of the group.”

Ó Conaola, a singer and Irish language and culture consultant, coordinated the cultural contribution to Ireland’s delegation at Tocatì, Verona’s annual International Festival of Street Games.

Held in mid-September, this year’s 24th edition brought more than 100 events to the streets and squares of the city’s Veronetta district.

It combined traditional games and sports with music, dancing and workshops, with more than 100,000 people from all over Italy and wider Europe getting to sample some of what the Galwegians had to offer.

Ireland was the guest country, giving visitors a chance to try Gaelic games and discover Irish language, crafts and performance traditions.

It was officially part of Ireland's Presidency of the European Union and also showcased all genres of music from all over Ireland; singing traditions – traditional and modern – as well as dancing and the Irish Language.

It also put the spotlight on our curach building and maritime history; stone-wall building; story-telling; Aran sweater knitting; outr film and TV history; heritage crafts, and Ireland's culinary history.

The Irish delegation included about 200 sportspeople, musicians, dancers and craftspeople.

Ó Conaola plans to approach Galway’s councils and cultural organisations about creating a version here, with events potentially extending across the city and county.

He envisages a weekend festival, accompanied by school and university visits, attracting participants from Ireland and elsewhere in Europe.

The idea is still at an early stage, but his experience in Italy has given him plenty to build on.

The trip began with an email he sent last October after coming across Tocatì online.

He introduced himself and offered to collaborate, discovering that Ireland was already on the organisers’ wish list.

He contacted the GAA and the project grew from there.

Chris Collins of Gaelic Games Europe oversaw the sporting programme, while Ó Conaola put together the Gaeltacht cultural group.

“We weren’t all the same,” he said. “We did different things and we brought something different to the group.”

Bríd Uí Chonghaile and her daughters, Bríd Áine and Máirín, taught Aran knitting. Micheál Ó Maoilchiaráin and Aisling Sheerin from Carna shared currach-making skills, while Seán Ó Coistealbha contributed folklore and spoke about games in community life.

Musicians included Pádraig Jack, Colm Seoighe and Diarmaid Ó hAlmhain.

Ó Conaola recalled how patiently Bríd and her daughters guided visitors through their knitting. Some had no English, but they could follow the demonstrations, with volunteers helping to translate.

The workshops weren’t the only lessons visitors took away. Some knew Ireland’s music but had not realised Irish was still spoken.

“There was a lot of eye-opening stuff for them about Ireland, because they thought they knew Ireland,” he said.

After learning a few simple phrases, audience members were shouting “Iontach!” at the group as they performed.

“They’re shouting these things at us,” Ó Conaola recalled. “It was every age group … really taking part and listening to everything you were saying.”

The contact didn’t end when the performances did. Ó Conaola said organisers particularly appreciated how the Irish participants stayed around to chat with the crowd after their shows and workshops.

For Ó Conaola, who brought his children, Seán, 13, and Michelle, 10, the visit was also a chance to show them how much interest there was abroad in the language and traditions they knew from island life.

“It’s a blessing to have this,” he said. “Not everybody has that privilege.”

He wanted other young people to see that their own culture was worth exploring and that people far from home were interested in it.

There was recognition from home, too. Ó Conaola said President Catherine Connolly sent a two-page letter praising the Irish team and its work.

He was also pleased to be personally thanked by an Italian diplomatic representative during the visit.

The group spent a day in Venice, performing music and poetry and visiting gondola makers, where they compared local boatbuilding traditions with their own.

Since returning, Ó Conaola has received invitations to festivals elsewhere in Europe and noticed increased interest in Ireland, he said.

He believes Galway has much of what would be needed to make a similar gathering work.

Like Verona, it is a university city with strong cultural traditions, lively streets and visitors from around the world. Ireland, he points out, has no shortage of traditional games and customs to share.

The next step would be to bring Galway organisations and the Tocatì team together to discuss sponsorship, responsibilities and how long preparations might take.

Finding a suitable weekend in Galway’s busy festival calendar would also be part of those discussions.

Having never organised an event on this scale, Ó Conaola knows it would take a collective effort. He is happy to get the conversation started and bring together the people who could help make it happen.

“I don’t mind being a spark,” he said.

“We would just follow that model, but it just changes to suit Galway and Ireland, and hopefully we can kick off from there.”