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The Ghostlight Sessions – Srutháin – Earagail Arts Festival 2020

8th July 2020 By Kate O'Callaghan

https://eaf.ie/events/the-ghostlight-sessions/
Balor Arts Centre presents
The Ghostlight Sessions: Joshua Burnside & Kate O’Callaghan
Experimental folk artist Joshua Burnside deftly blends alt-folk and elements of Irish folk tradition with South American rhythms and Eastern European influences whilst introducing synthetic and found-sounds, synths loops and crunching beats.
He released his debut album ‘Ephrata’ two years ago via Quiet Arch Records. A mix of Irish traditional, European folk and Americana, it earned Joshua the ‘Best Album’ award at the Northern Irish Music Prize.
Currently spending time in the studio using post-punk and electronic recording methods to push the boundaries of his beloved folk music, Joshua’s second studio album is set for release later in 2020.
Inishowen-based Kate O’Callaghan is a hugely-respected presence on the Donegal music scene.
Her beautifully evocative melodies and intelligent considered lyrics run the full range of emotions from the sublime to the cathartic creating a wondrously skewed, refracted version of folk that is haunting, poignant and uplifting.
To-date, Kate has written and recorded two albums and an EP and toured Ireland, UK, Germany and the US. Kate is currently working on the second phase of a historically-themed music project entitled ‘Songs from A Witness Statement’ based on the first-hand testimony of her great grand-aunt’s involvement in the 1916 Rising and Irish War of Independence.
Joshua Burnside invites you to make a donation to Belfast Simon Community. https://www.simoncommunity.org/get-involved/donate
Kate O’Callaghan invites you to make a donation to Pieta House. https://www.pieta.ie/support-our-work/donate/
Earagail Arts Festival is proudly supported by

Donegal County Council

,

Arts Council Ireland

&

Wild Atlantic Way

Filed Under: Latest News Tagged With: Balor Arts Centre, Donegal, EAF2020, Earagail Arts Festival, Joshua Burnside, Kate O'Callaghan, Srutháin

Support to Dean Maywood EP Launch

7th May 2019 By Kate O'Callaghan

I will be supporting Dean Maywood at the Balor Arts Centre on May 17th with Seamus Devenny. 

Dean will be launching his debut EP with The Dog River Band – Darren Doherty on guitars, Zara Montgomery on keys, Cormac Friel on drums and Darren Carr on bass. They will be joined by Goats Don’t Shave guitarist Patsy Gallagher and a special guest appearance by Brendan Quinn.
Donegal Songwriter Michael Gillespie will also provide a support slot on the night.

Filed Under: Latest News Tagged With: Ballybofey, Balor Arts Centre, Dean Maywood, Dog River Band, Donegal, Goats Don't Shave, Kate O'Callaghan, Patsy Gallagher, Seamus Devenny

Declan Sessions at The Acoustic Yard Festival 2017

22nd May 2017 By Kate O'Callaghan

We had the great pleasure of recording our song Stone By Stone with the lovely folk at Declan Sessions  while we were performing at The Acoustic Yard Festival in Westport, Co. Mayo this May. 

What a sound bunch of humans doing an awesome service for Original Irish Music. You can check out their work and the lyrics for the song below:

Website: https://declansessions.com 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/declansessions

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DeclanSessions

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/declansessions 

 

Stone By Stone – Lyrics 

Heart open wide
No armour have you built inside
Just stepping stones you place before you
One by one
To bring you forth

And with these stones
So freely laid
You move on fearless
And unswayed

When I look at you
I see the sunrise
And I wish you all the love in this world

No weary eye to cast upon
To shade you in and bear down on
You are the color of the rain
The taste of morning dew
Before the break of day

Mourn not the stolen time
For how could you have known
Just holding you in my arms
Is the greatest thing I’ve ever done

When I look at you
I see the sunrise
And I wish you all the love in this world
Stone by stone
All the love in this world
STONE BY STONE
Kate O’Callaghan 2017 ©

Filed Under: Latest News Tagged With: Acoustic Folk, Acoustic Yard Festival, Declan Sessions, Irish Music, Kate O'Callaghan, Mayo, Singer/songwriter, Stone By Stone, Westport

The Girl With The Beret – New Album

26th September 2016 By Kate O'Callaghan

tgwtb-21x21-title catherine-byrne-in-uniform-2

I’m delighted to announce the release of my New Album, called The Girl With The Beret.

It is available now for pre-order on Bandcamp and will be officially released on Monday 3rd October, 2016.

 ’The Girl with The Beret’ is a 1916 Concept Mini-Album, inspired by my great-grandaunt Katie, otherwise known as Catherine Rooney (née Byrne).
According to her witness statement, recorded with the Bureau of Military History (Ireland), she was the first woman to enter the GPO in Dublin on the day of the Rising on Easter Monday 1916. Having followed her brothers down O’Connell St., she kicked in a side window of the GPO and climbed in. She tended to the wounded, earning herself the title of ‘The Petticoat Heroine’ in the press in later years. 

Katie also delivered several dispatches during the week, including one important note written by Joseph Plunkett and given to her by Pádraig Pearse. She concealed the note in her hair and brought it to the Four Courts. Katie describes running under fire and narrowly escaping death, when a bullet passed by her head leaving two holes in her beret. She also describes her family’s involvement in the War of Independence, in the years following the Rising. Their house, at 17 Nth Richmond St., was used as a secret HQ for a special squad called the ‘Guards of the Active Service Unit’. Firearms and ammunition were temporarily hidden in various secret places in the house, including the first Thompson gun smuggled into Ireland. Her Mother, Mrs Catherine Byrne (née Dowling), provided a safe house during this time, feeding and tending to the many men who were involved and needing a place to hide. 

 

Comprised of a series of songs and spoken word tracks, which flow seamlessly from one into the other, The Girl With The Beret weaves the story of a young woman caught up in the 1916 Rising in Dublin.

A fusion of alternative folk, popular ballad and classical strings. It gives a unique insight into the perspective of an ordinary girl living at that time and what it meant, as a female, to be involved in the Rebellion.

Featured musicians:

Kate O’Callaghan, Seamus Devenny, Tim Jarvis, Declan McClafferty and Martin Smyth (from alt. rock band In Their Thousands), Stephen McDaid, Billy Robinson, Paul Devenny and Kevin Murphy.

Recorded and Mixed by Orri McBrearty at Attica Audio, Donegal.

Mastered by Richard Dowling at WavMastering, Limerick.

 

 

Filed Under: Latest News Tagged With: 1916, 1916 Ballad, Alt. Folk, Attica Audio Recording, Catherine Byrne, Catherine Rooney, Concept Album, Donegal, Folk, In Their Thousands, Irish Rebellion, Kate O'Callaghan, new Album, Rising, Singer/songwriter, The Girl with the Beret, Wav Mastering

Colgan Heritage Weekend – Songs Of Revolution And Change – July 3rd, Carndonagh, Co.Donegal

20th June 2016 By Kate O'Callaghan

Colgan Heritage Week

On Sunday July 3rd, I will be joining The Henry Girls for a special concert in the Colgan Hall, Carndonagh, Co.Donegal, which will bring a close to the Colgan Heritage Weekend.

This year’s Colgan Heritage Weekend (July 1st – 4th 2016) will focus on the theme of ‘Revolution and Change: 1916-2016’ as part of the national programme of events celebrating and commemorating the 1916 Easter Rising. The programme is filled with talks, poetry readings, musical recitals, concerts, walks and exhibitions which explore the importance of the 1916 Rising in modern Ireland. The keynote lectures on Friday (July 1st) evening come from Senator Marie Louise O’Donnell and recently elected MLA for Foyle Eamonn Mc Cann.

In this theme concert Songs of Revolution and Change, I will be performing songs from my upcoming release The Girl with the Beret, which I performed as part of RTE’s Reflecting the Rising on Easter Monday in Dublin this year. Inspired by my great-grand aunt Catherine Byrne who fought in the Rising in 1916, all the songs are based on stories from her witness statement recorded with the Bureau of Military History. I will be accompanied by Seamus Devenny (Violin) and Tim Jarvis (Cello).

Visit www.colganheritage.com for more info on the weekend of events

Songs of Revolution and Change
Date: Sunday July 3rd
Time: 8pm
Cost: €10
Tickets: Available exclusively at Doherty’s Newsagents, Carndonagh, Co.Donegal
 Colgan Heritage Week

Filed Under: Latest News Tagged With: 1916, Bureau of Military History, Carndonagh, Catherine Byrne, Catherine Rooney, Colgan Hall, Colgan Heritage Week, Donegal, Easter Rising, Kate O'Callaghan, Reflecting the Rising, RTE, Seamus Devenny, Songs of Revolution and Change, The Girl with the Beret, The Henry Girls, Tim Jarvis

RTÉ Reflecting the Rising – Easter Monday 2016

27th March 2016 By Kate O'Callaghan

I am very honoured to have been invited to perform a collection of songs, inspired by my great-gran aunt Catherine Rooney (nee Byrne), at the centenary celebrations in Dublin this Easter Monday 28th March 2016. As part of RTÉ Reflecting the Rising I will be performing in the wonderfully historic setting that is The Four Courts. Accompanied by Seamus Devenny (violin and percussion) and Tim Jarvis (cello). In addition to our performance at the Four Courts we will also be performing one of the songs from this collection to a live broadcast audience at the Albert Theatre in the Royal College of Surgeons on St. Stephen’s Green, which will be aired on RTÉ Radio One between 3pm and 4pm on Easter Monday. This programme is all about the role of women in 1916 and will be presented by Keelin Shanley.

RTE 1916

Filed Under: Latest News Tagged With: 1916, Albert Theatre, Catherine Rooney, Kate O'Callaghan, Royal College of Surgeons, RTE Radio One, RTE Reflecting the Rising, Seamus Devenny, The Four Courts, Tim Jarvis

Spring Tour with Duke Special

16th March 2016 By Kate O'Callaghan

Very honoured to be joining Duke Special for the last four dates of his Piano & Pages 2016 Tour. Myself and Seamus Devenny will be opening up for Duke at Down Arts Centre (Downpatrick) on 17th Mar, Kavanagh’s (Portlaoise) on 18th Mar, Cleere’s (Kilkenny) on the 19th Mar and The Fence (Mullingar) on the 20th Mar.

DS Tour Dates

Filed Under: Latest News Tagged With: Andromeda Artisans, Cleere's, Down Arts Centre, Downpatrick, Duke Special, Kate O'Callaghan, Kavanagh's, Kilkenny, Mullingar, Piano & Pages Tour, Portlaoise, Seamus Devenny, Spring Tour, The Fence

Women’s Work Festival – Belfast

9th February 2016 By Kate O'Callaghan

I can’t wait to perform at the upcoming Women’s Work Festival on Sunday 6th March. The show is called Where Do You Go To My Lovely?

Presented by Roisin Whyte and Jan Carson  and made up of poets, writers and musicians; all women, all performing original work. It is described as – “Ten different imaginations, perspectives, experiences, humours, sorrows, ponderings. Stories that blazed or maybe crawled into being via scrunched-up papers/blank computer screens. Songs finally born after many laboured nights judged by silent, sullen instruments in the corner of the room”. It will take place in the Black Box Cafe, 7pm -10pm.

The Women’s Work Festival, run by Charlotte Dryden at the Oh Yeah Centre, promotes women working in the music industry and will be hosting a variety of great female lead events including Go Girl, Three for Three with Kaz Hawkins, and International Women’s Day Showcase with Katherine Phillipa and Saint Sister to name but a few. Check it out folks.

 

Women's Work

Filed Under: Latest News Tagged With: Belfast, Black Box, Celine Murphy, Charlotte Dryden, Cheylene Murphy, Go Girl, International Women's Day, Jan Carson, Kate Gilbertson, Kate O'Callaghan, Katherine Phillipa, Kaz Hawkins, Lucy Robinson, Oh Yeah Centre, Paula McAleese, Roisin Whyte, Saint Sister, Seamud Devenny, Three for Three, Where do you go to my lovely?, Women's Work, Women's Work Festival

New Christmas Single Release – The Holly & The Ivy

7th December 2015 By Kate O'Callaghan

I’m thrilled to announce my new Christmas Single and Music Video Release –The Holly & The Ivy. 

Available now on iTunes and all major digital outlets.

The Holly & The Ivy Single Cover

Filed Under: Latest News Tagged With: Alternative Folk, Andromeda Artisans, Christmas Carol, Christmas Single, Donegal, Inishowen, Ireland, Kate O'Callaghan, Seasonal Music, The Holly & The Ivy, The Holly and The Ivy

New Double Single Release – FEEL & YOUNG HEARTS RUN FREE

17th October 2015 By Kate O'Callaghan

I’m delighted to announce my Double Single Release of ‘FEEL’ & ‘YOUNG HEARTS RUN FREE’ with new label Andromeda Artisans.  Available now on iTUNES and all major digital streaming sites. Enjoy Xx

AA_Black_Spot_Port

Filed Under: Latest News Tagged With: Alternative, Alternative Folk, Andromeda Artisans, Blues, Campervan, Candi Staton, Donegal, Earagail Arts Festival, Feel, Folk, In Their Thousands, Jazz, Kate O'Callaghan, Singer Songwriter, Swing, The Henry Girls, Vantastival, VW T4, Young Hearts Run Free

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