A NEW documentary highlights the venues which helped shape the Irish Folk music scene.
An Folk Club is a four-part series for TG4 which takes viewers back several decades, when such venues were mainly small rooms located above a bar.
“In the 1960s and 70s, a folk club was rarely more than a smoky room above a bar,” a TG4 spokesperson explains.
“A piece of carpet for a stage, old wooden stools or scaffolding planks thrown across empty beer kegs for seating, and amplification that barely deserved the name,” they add.
Tola Custy & Band feature in the series“Yet the atmosphere was electric. Performers got the best of order, audiences got the finest music of the day, and almost every city, town and village on the island had a club of its own.
“Those rooms were sanctuaries, keeping song traditions alive and putting them back into circulation. They were also where reputations were made, and where collaborations struck up on an ordinary weeknight went on to become classics.”
Sharyn Ward is among the musicians that feature in episode one of the showThe likes of Paul Brady, Andy Irvine, The Fureys, Johnny Moynihan, Christy Moore, Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger all cut their teeth on the Folk club circuit.
Today the music scene has come full circle, with the music clubs becoming popular once again across Ireland.
“A new wave is drawing musicians and listeners together again, carrying the spirit of the sixties and seventies in both their music and their stage presence,” the spokesperson added.
Presented by musician Róisín Chambers, An Folk Club travels to four clubs where the folk scene continues.
The Grainne Holland Band feature in episode two at The Sunflower Folk Club in BelfastThe Clé Club in Dublin, the Sunflower in Belfast, the Rostrevor FolkClub in County Down and the Crusheen Folk Club in County Clare all feature in the eries.
“Each episode blends local talent with guest performers who honed their craft in these very rooms, intercut with interview and archive,” TG4 confirms.
The Clare Sands BandMusicians featured across the series include Paddy Glackin, Andy Irvine, Ralph McTell, The Sands Family and Mike Hanrahan.
An Folk Club begins on Sunday, November 29 at 9pm on TG4 and TG4+.
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