Maiden City Festival Weblog

We have a few last minute changes to the published schedule. Check www.maidencityfestival.com for daily schedules which we are keeping up to date.

The Bluegrass on the Walls line-up has changed a little, with the addition of David Hope & The Henchmen. And the Bluestack Mountain Boys are in fact the Blackstack Mountain Boys.

Monday lunchtime at the Cafe Nervosa on Magazine Street, our Culture Bite will not be Eoin O’Callaghan and will instead be local band Intermission – again full details on the Maiden City Festival website.

On Wednesday Janet Dowd will be at the Boston Tea Party in the Craft Village. Originally it was to have been Mons Wheeler.

And on Wednesday evening the inside spread of our printed programme says the Crimson Players will be at the Verbal Arts Centre on Wednesday when they will of course be at the Memorial Hall at 8pm-10pm with their annual Variety Show.

Other than those very small changes in a very large programme everything is up to date. Double check the website listing for each day to be sure.

All that is left to say is enjoy the Festival.

Some young people have been working at the Verbal Arts Centre over the past few days. They have been exploring Protestant culture and traditions from a starting point of knowing very little. Their experience will be broadcast on Isishowen Community Radio 105+107.6FM on Wednesday 11th August 10am-11am and repeated 8pm-9pm, or online at www.pcrfm.ie

This is a first step as we slowly pull together our focus on the ballads of the Appalachians, which is our first project for the Fowk Foundation which we hope to launch before the start of the 2010 year’s Festival. 

At the 2009 Festival we launched the week in our usual Bluegrass way, with a day of Bluegrass around the historic Walls of Londonderry – though rain pushed most indoors.  Already in the comfort of the Verbal Arts Centre was Josh Goforth, from Madison County, deep in the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina. 

Josh is an outstanding musician, but also holds a passion for the heritage and culture of the mountains and in particular the ballads that were held for generations in a remoteness from modernity that was once afforded by the mountains. We asked Josh to open the Festival weekend with ‘a conversation on Mountain Life and Music’.  We are delighted to offer this podcast (free to download) of that afternoon’s presentation.

Josh Goforth Podcast by MaidenCityFestival

There are a number of videos from this afternoon session which will be on YouTube in due course. One tune not featured on the podcast was Josh’s final piece before he completed his presentation, taking him back to the beginning of his musical journey, at his Grandfather’s knee:

There are also examples of some of the music Josh talks about in different styles, to be found on the Maiden City Festival YouTube Channel, including this one taken from the evening concert at The Junction.

More later.

The Maiden City Festival held a review eveing on 5 February 2009. It was an event were we could showcase the variety and diversity of the Festival to many from the community or business sectors who would not be around in August: August is the traditional holiday period in Londonderry much as the first two weeks of July are in Belfast. It was a great night of drama, music and dance. 

It is not fair to pick one of the performances for special attention, but as editor I will anyway.  The Henry Girls have been a long-standing feature of our lunchtime events at the Verbal Arts Centre each August and they were more than happy to be available for our review night. There are two songs from them up on YouTube from the night. This one silenced Londonderry’s Guildhall. It is available on their latest CD called DAWN, which can be found on their website www.thehenrygirls.com

There are a number of other videos on the website including dance from the Sollus Highland Dancers from Bready and the Victoria Line Dancers. Apologies for the video as the digital struggled to cope with the changing lights: though the result has an impact of its own. More photos of the night on Flickr very soon.

The real time final day of the Festival is here. Looking forward to the  short drama pieces based on the book “Three Cheers for The Derrys” at the Playhouse Theatre at 1pm.  Will probably just make the end of Balkan Alien Sound at the Verbal Arts Theatre.  Of course there are those other Culture Bite sessions at the other lunchtime venues. Afternoon feet up at the Memorial Hall for an afternoon of light entertainment. Wish.

Remember, after the Festival week is over we will continue to upload pictures and videos and update here on the Weblog. 

Videos from Festival performances will be at http://www.youtube.com/user/MaidenCityFestival

Pictures are being posted on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/maidencityfestival/collections/