TRADFEST – The Dublin Castle Sessions
A new six-part music TV series from TradFest & Born Optimistic
Presented by Fiachna Ó Braonáin
Show 2 – Thursday 20th May
Altan; Eleanor Shanley; Aoife Scott with Andy Meaney; Mike Hanrahan (Stockton’s Wing) with Eleanor Shanley; David Keenan
About Tradfest – The Dublin Castle Sessions
Join Hothouse Flowers founder and member, Fiachna Ó Braonáin as he takes us on a musical journey using Trad as the starting point.
Six nights of songs and stories recorded in the State Apartments in Dublin Castle.
True to the values of TradFest this truly is ‘Trad without Frontiers’ featuring household names and living legends alongside rising stars aiming to take their place on Ireland’s musical stage.
The show features performances by over 50 artists including Altan, Dervish, Hothouse Flowers, Andy Irvine & Donal Lunny, Eleanor McEvoy Tolü Makay, Enda Gallery, Moxie, Steve & Joe Wall, Luka Bloom, Laoise Kelly, Karen Casey, Kate Ellis, Emma Langford.
This TV show has brought something new and different to the TV music Genre. TradFest- The Dublin Castle Sessions features artists breaking musical bread together. It’s a musical journey with musician and broadcaster Fiachna Ó Braonáin at the helm guiding the audience as musicians sing their songs and the stories behind them. The show is also bringing unique collaborations to the screen as we see artists from different genres and generations perform together. Such as Luka Bloom with trad group & Moxie and harpist Laoise Kelly with African-Irish singer songwriter Tolü Makay & singer song writer & producer Enda Gallery.
Another integral element of the show is performances by emerging Irish talent, acts that are supported by Culture Ireland to showcase at overseas festivals around the world including Sive, Conchúr White, Seána Davey, Lemoncello, Moxie, Clare Sands and Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin.
2020 was a year that saw many festivals fall by the wayside due to the Co-vid 19 pandemic, however TradFest actually got bigger and went global during this time by pivoting from live events to broadcasting high quality online shows and also getting involved in TV production employing artists, crews and entertaining audiences across the world while showcasing Dublin as the Music Capital of Ireland. The audience for TradFest@home in January was actually greater in 2021 than in previous years with audiences joining the show from across the world.
TradFest 2021 was produced by the Temple Bar Company and was made possible with the financial support from the Department Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Culture Ireland and Dublin City Council