The Road to Trad Fest: Méabh Ní Chonaill has the ‘Reel’ Deal on UCC Trad Soc’s Upcoming Festival
By Music Editor Méabh Ní Chonaill
UCC Trad Fest is coming to a university near you and from February 9 to 11. The pubs of Barrack Street will be alive with the sound of music as UCC Trad Soc’s annual festival takes place across the campus and surrounding area. Bringing the very best in traditional music to the university for a jam-packed weekend, the society aims to showcase the music of young and old and maybe attract a few new members along the way. Between concerts, sessions, and workshops there is sure to be something for all at Trad Fest.
UCC Tradfest 2024
With UCC having been the first third-level institution to recognise traditional music on an academic level, traditional music is of immense importance to the university and its students. UCC Trad Soc is extremely active on campus throughout the academic year and hosts events such as concerts, sessions, and lunchtime concerts. This passion for music is what has driven its members to strive for more, with the result being their very own, student-organised festival.
In the build-up to the festival, “The Road to Trad Fest”, the society has given a glimpse of the calibre of music that attendees can expect, with an enchanting concert from piper Muireann Ní Shé and bouzouki player Macdara Ó Faoláin held in the Honan Chapel. A special episode of RTÉ Radio 1’s flagship traditional music programme Céilí House is set to air on Saturday the 3rd of February featuring members of the Trad Soc and UCC students and staff.
Kicking off the festival on Thursday 8 is the O’Riada lecture, this year hosted by an tOllamh Tríona Ní Shíocháin in the UCC Music Department at Sunday’s Well. This lecture is given annually on a topic of particular interest to the music community, in this case “Subjugated knowledges and the anonymous woman’s voice in sean-nós song”. Tríona, an acclaimed scholar, singer, and musician, is currently lecturing in Maynooth University but previously spent time as a lecturer and department head in UCC. The lecture is set to be a highly interesting opener to the festival and a perfect way of easing students into what is sure to be a hectic weekend.
The highly anticipated Battle of the Bands takes place on Friday the 9th at 7.30pm in Clancy’s, with bands from multiple universities competing to win a €500 prize and a support slot at this year’s Patrick O’Keeffe Festival. Past winners of the Trad Soc Battle of the Bands have since gone on to lead impressive musical careers, with the likes of Tara Breen and members of the Shandrum Céilí Band having laid claim to the title in previous years. The competition welcomes experimentation and more traditional styles and also provides a great opportunity for student bands to meet and network. Following the competition, a promising session is guaranteed between the competitors and the spectating musicians. As this is the only competitive part of the festival the crowds tend to be in high spirits and cheering on their favourites, making Friday night’s competition the perfect beginning to the weekend.
UCC Tradfest 2024
An important aspect of the festival is the continuation of traditional music in UCC, says Trad Soc chairperson Iona Ritchie.
‘We are putting such an emphasis this year on young people and getting the next generation of UCC Trad Soc students into college,’ she says. In what could be viewed as a recruitment scheme in disguise, the festival will hold workshops with accomplished musicians Claire Fennell on flute, Derek Hickey on accordion, Oisín Morrison on harp, Clíona Halley on concertina and Sarah O’Gorman on fiddle. These workshops are open to the public and take place on Saturday the 10th from 10am to 1pm in the UCC Music Department for just 25 euro.
Another aim of the festival is to make traditional music accessible to the students of UCC and to encourage some of them towards the tradition. The festival functions as something of a taster, explains Iona.
‘I think it will give an on-campus, first-hand look into the world of traditional music for those who are maybe not familiar with it,’ she says. ‘For those who have a genuine interest, it’s giving them the opportunity to go to a pub, to go to a concert and listen and engage with it’.
To cater towards the wider community, the society has organised a session trail along Barrack Street on the Saturday and Sunday with the workshop tutors, members of the UCC and UG trad socs, and of course the general public. Session trails have become an extremely popular feature of most traditional music festivals and are an excellent way of spreading the sound of trad across a town or city. They also provide an opening for attendees to find a session suitable to their level and to partake in the festival themselves. These sessions will be the beating heart of the festival and a cost-free way to partake in the festival be it through listening, singing, or playing.
‘To be creating a hub of traditional music across Barrack Street towards UCC, I’m excited to see that take form and I think that will be a lovely way to keep the festival going and breathing throughout the whole weekend,’ says Iona.
You can expect to see Trad Fest participants in The Rock, Gaia, Cissy Youngs, Mr Bradley’s and O’Sho throughout the weekend for many planned and unplanned sessions.
The presence and visibility of traditional music in the usual student haunts may entice the students of UCC towards the festival’s other offerings, such as the headline concert with the Mulcahy family. Michelle, Louise, and their father Mick are all successful solo musicians in their own right but have also played as a tight-knit group for years. The recipients of the 2023 Gradam Ceoil award for Music Groups, the multi-instrumentalists are sure to put on a fantastic show.
‘The crowning jewel of our festival has to be the Mulcahys’ concert on the Saturday night; to get such a high calibre of musicianship coming to UCC campus, in The Devere Hall no less,’ chairperson Iona adds.
Located in the Student Centre on campus, the Devere Hall is set to be bustling with activity as the Mulcahy family take to the stage at 7.30pm on Saturday 10 with tickets on sale now for a bargain price of 10 euro. The winners of the Battle of the Bands competition will also feature in the Gala Concert as the opening act, as the final part of their prize.
The breadth of the festival’s scope can be seen in ‘the emphasis we put on young up-and-coming musicianship as well as more established musicians’, says Iona. ‘You have people like the Mulcahys playing but you also have Ceolchoirm na nÓg, which is celebrating Cork’s young and upcoming talent.’
After what will surely be a late night of tunes on Saturday, the focus turns to the youth concert from 2.30pm in the Shtepps on Sunday as Ceolchoirm na nÓg features music and song from the Rebel County’s stars of the future.
After an extremely busy weekend, if anyone has any tunes left to be played, the farewell sessions await from 2pm to 6pm on Barrack Street as the Trad Soc members bid their visitors farewell. The committee members have all contributed hugely, says Iona.
The organisation of any festival involves a share of trials and tribulations but despite this Iona says, ‘It has honestly been a joy’.
The festival is a huge testament to the committee and to Iona herself, for whom the festival is ‘the highlight of my year when it comes to being a UCC student and a musician because it is such a proud feeling’.
To organise a festival such as this, particularly as students, is no mean feat and anyone who has completed a UCC risk assessment would wince at the sheer volume of assessments involved in these three days alone. In the aftermath of COVID-19 the festival has gone from strength to strength with Iona stating that the plan was to make it ‘bigger and better’.
There can be no denying that the Trad Soc has done just that, and with the support of the UCC Music Department and lecturers, the committee has assembled an exciting and varied schedule which promises a great weekend ahead for UCC Trad Fest.
