join us ??     Saturday June 23rd 2012 ...
                     events from noon until 10 pm-ish
                     food & drinks served, donation payment

Line-Up of Performers ...

noon,  start serving the Food Buffet

Kicking off with a welcoming lunch buffet, social time, sort out time for performers, and guided labyrinth walks. On the menu is likely to be a start of fresh seafood chowder, vegan chilli, mayo free curried chicken salad, a living food power salad plus a selection of about 20 loose leaf teas white, green, black, herb blends, coffee and juices.

Seperate donations for this to cover our costs please.

From around 4:00 pm the dishes available are likely to be a menu is likely to be of sausages or nut cutlets that are excellent to go with colcannon, some side salad choice plus a couple of summery desserts along with refreshment from a selection of more than 20 loose leaf teas white, green, black, herb blends, coffee and juices.

Seperate donations when you return for more food to cover our costs please.

12:00 pm  Labyrinth Walks with Tales Of Aurie mac Raurie
                                                        (Pottering Harry McCrory)

www.oghamtrees.com

John of Celtic Ways sometimes emerges as Aurie mac Raurie, who friends call Pottering Harry McRory. From the labyrinths he may, at last, reveal how the harp came into Ireland, about his timeless machine, and an introduction to his friends, especially Mary The Hare.

1:00 pm  Edward Durand

www.poemhunter.com

Edward Durand will share poetry that is mystical, philosophical and about nature, inspired by nature and his studies in Philosophy, Parapsychology, Herbalism and Mythology. Edward has presented poetry on radio and has had poems published in various publications.

Since our last Words And Harps Day, Edward has created and moderated a very popular He started the facebook group ‘Mystical Poetry’. After viewing some of Edward's poems, I knew he would be very comfortable within our Words And Harps Day.

2:00 pm  Claire Roche

www.claireroche.com

Claire was born in Blackrock, Co. Dublin and has lived most of her life in Co. Dublin. Harping for Claire started during her teens in the 60s as a wonderful excuse to miss maths lessons and go to harp lessons instead. At home Claire enjoyed escaping to the piano room, improvised, and words just came and flowed. Luckily she also had a reel to reel tape recorder running to capture those inspired words and tunes from "another world". At Trinity College, Dublin, Claire aided her Anglo Irish Literature studies by applying poems of W.B. Yeats to music and turning the poems into songs, which she later performed, opening up concerts such as for the Chieftains and Fureys. During recent years Claire has re-visited her teenage ramblings and shaped them into mezmerising songs, a style she continued to create new songs. Claire inspires us to "go with the flow", voice sharing the words that come to us and accompanied by the harp to distribute those words to our souls.

3:00 pm  Dagda's Harps

www.dagdasharps.co.uk

As there are currently no Dagda's Harps video clip I have embedded an alternative. Dagda's Harps are the fruit of the creative and magical collaboration of musician and harp maker, Coleston Brown, and faery artist, Jessie Skillen. It all started with a Green Harp built by that wizard Coleston and Jessie had the privilege of decorating it with copper leaves and vines, and Coleston played the first tune. In their souls Jessie and Coleston felt the Harp would be a bridge again, as once it was, between the otherworld and this one. Early this year Coleston deftly designed and built the first of the small harps and Jessie decorated and named it. The Faery Moon Harp. At Words And Harps Day Jessie and Coleston will present words that are accompanied by their Faery Harps, their Dagda's Harps.

4:00 pm  Mike Absalom

www.mikeabsalom.com

Mike was born in Britain from Irish and Welsh parents, raised in England and Canada and educated at Oxford University and the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. Since 1964 Mike Absalom has performed his whimsical songs and romantic music in such varied locations as the Royal Albert Hall, London, the Grand Municipal Theatre, Punta Arenas, Chile, the Rochas Harp Festival in Paraguay, the BBC TV's Old Grey Whistle Test, and the World Harp Congress in the USA. When not performing songs, stories and music, Mike makes wooden puppets for his children's show: "Professor Absalom and his Amazing Acrobatic Street Dolls". We are in for all kinds of surprises when Mike perfoms at our Words and Harps Day.
Be here early, Mike performs at 2:00 pm !!

5:00 pm  Talk N' Strings (Eileen O'Toole with Andy Gowan)

Eileen O'Toole, joining Andy, is a travelling poet, storyteller and writer based in Drumshambo, Co. Leitrim. Her mood of poetry and words is extremely varied from the most ambient and reflective to the most humourous and playful.

Talented wire strung harp musician Andy Gowan will take us on a bardic journey through time using the music of Turlough O'Carolan, beautiful old Celtic tunes and Celtic inspired tunes to support some stories. 20 years of travelling with harps, that Andy has made himself, touring mainly around Australia, Andy will serve a perfect completion for our Words And Harps Day, before our finale Craic session, reminding us why the words and harp tradition is so important for us to repeat when we can.

6:00 pm  Gian Castello & Celtic Legends

After their debut at Mohill Story telling Festival 2009, this remarkable trio has performed in libraries, churches and festivals around midlands, west and north west Ireland.
I am sure they will become national and international soon :-)

Gian Castello performs with dulcimers and draws inspiration from the poetry and legends of ancient bards. Gian is also a fluid flute player who has studied with flute teachers such as John Lee in Co Donegal and Micho Russell in Co. Clare

Kitia Benedetti, performed as actress, director, playwright, artistic director and trainer in Italy 1989 till 2005 and is now devoted to performing poetry, stories and folk drama of Ireland

Devon MacGillivray from Boston is formerly a classical violinist, currently the music assistant to RTÉ Cór na nÓg, who adds her vocals to harmonize the trio and soundscapes their sound with her gentle ethereal fiddle playing.

7:00 pm  Fionnuala Gill

Fionnuala Gill is indeed a singer harpist treasure. She was a founding member of the choral group Anúna and in the original ensemble of Riverdance. Fionnuala then enjoyed international success as a member of Secret Garden who sold 3.5 million albums worldwide

Fionnuala has sung, with harp, for Irish President Mary McAleese, His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama, HM Queen Fabiola of Belgium and Bishop Desmond Tutu.

Fionnualla has also performed with various international storytellers.

8:30 pm  Tara Jaff

The harp is the chang in Kurdish, Iranian and Persian and is the oldest known stringed instrument, mentioned often in tales about and by mystic poets of those regions.

Tara Jaff is a Kurdish musician with a passionate fascination with ancient harps of Sumeria, Assyria and Elam that dates as far back as 3000BC. Today, Tara embraces the Celtic Harp and has introduced it to Kurdish music, songs and poetry. Today, Tara brings an expression of an ancient form of song and music into the present.

We are so lucky to host and share Tara with our guests as she is constantly recording and performing all around the world in concerts, festivals, conferences, galleries and for radio and television broadcasts. The exhileration and presence of Tara, her poems, songs and music will have a lasting beautiful affect on your souls.