Granard Harp Festival - Féile Chruite Ghráinaird

The Granard Harp Festival, Féile Chruite Ghráinaird, was the first harp festival to occur in Ireland and was held in Granard in 1781. The festival ran again in 1782 and 1785. It was revived in 1981, led by parish priest, Canon Gilfillan and the Trustees of the Granard Harp Festival. Last year the festival was revived by a local committee with the support of the John Dungan Branch Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann & Creative Ireland and features traditional music, song & dance agus imeachtaí trí Ghaeilge.

The official opening of the Granard Harp Festival will take place in the Granard Community Library at 7pm on Thursday. It will be opened by an Cathaoirleach of Longford County Council Cllr. Michael Carrigy and an Cathaoirleach of Granard Municipal District, Cllr. P.J. Reilly and the members of John Dungan Branch of Comhaltas. Special guests will include the Chairman of the Granard Harp Festival, Jimmy Donoghue and the trustees of the Harp festival. This iwll then be followed by a Harp Recital featuring many young harpers and traditional musicians from the county.

For Friday there will be a Harp Recital & Traditional Concert featuring a host of local trad musicians. This will commence at 8pm in St Patrick’s Church with the Fear an Tí being Eamonn O’Braonaín, Irish and Cultural Officer for Longford GAA. Please visit the longfordlibrary.ie website for full details of this event and for booking tickets.

Saturday will see workshops occur during the morning in Harp, Tin Whistle, Fiddle and Sean Nós Singing, with tutors Kim Fleming, Fionnuala Maxwell, Elaine Reilly, Aidan Shannon and Conor Ward. If you wish to attend a workshop please note that booking is essential as numbers are strictly limited. The morning will also feature a walking tour of Granard and a guided tour of the historic ‘Knights and Conquests’ Centre. The afternoon will see Buskers taking to the streets hoping to scoop prizes in various categories. Then from 9pm there will be Ceol agus Craic in the local pubs. These sessions are marvellous free entertainment open for all to attend and participate in

After a Traditional Mass on Sunday morning with St Mary’s Folk Choir and the John Dungan Branch of Comhaltas, a Concert and Céilí Mór will be held in Market Street in the afternoon to finish the weekend off.

This promises to be a fantastic weekend of concerts, workshops, ceol agus craic so for details of the line-up of events, activities and performances, which will take place every day from Thursday 22nd through to Sunday 25th August 2019, please visit longfordlibrary.ie where you can download a copy of the festival brochure. You can also follow on Facebook for the very latest information.

If you have any queries regarding the Granard Harp Festival, please email [email protected] or [email protected]. You can also call Granard Library on +353 (0)43 668 6164 or +353 (0)43 334 1124.