99-027 (Irish Music)
Distributed September 30, 1999
For Immediate Release
News Service Contact: Glenn Hare



Concert to showcase traditional music from the Emerald Isle

The Brown Music Department will feature Joe McKenna, Irish bag piper, and other traditional Irish musicians in concert on Saturday, Oct. 9, at 8 p.m. in the Grant Recital Hall.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Music of the Emerald Isle will be showcased at the Providence Muilleannium Tionól (Providence Millennium Gathering), a concert featuring Irish bag piper Joe McKenna and other traditional musicians Saturday, Oct. 9, at 8 p.m. in Grant Recital Hall.

Known for his innovative and imaginative playing on the Uilleann pipes (Irish bag pipes), McKenna was a pupil of the legendary Dublin piper and pipemaker Loe Rowsome. He has made several recordings with his wife, harpist Antoinette McKenna, and most recently with his band Sean Nua, all on the Shanachie record label.

Editors: A digital photograph of Joe McKenna is available from the News Service. Call Glenn Hare at (401) 863-2476 for details.

The concert will also showcase the talents of Patrick and Cathy Sky on pipes and fiddle, Gearóid ÓhAllmhuráin and Patrick Ourceau on concertina and fiddle, and vocalists Josephine MacNamara and Sheila Hogg.

Tickets are $10, and can be purchased at the door on the night of the show. Grant Recital Hall is located behind the Orwig Music Building at the corner of Hope Street and Young Orchard Avenue.

In addition to the concert, ÓhAllmhuráin and Ourceau will present a free recital Thursday, Oct., 7, in Room 315 of the Orwig Music Building beginning at 4 p.m. Their latest recording, Tracin, has been described as “exquisite and wonderfully sensitive.” ÓhAllmhuráin, who also teaches at the University of San Francisco, will lecture on “The Cultural Impact of the Great Famine” immediately following the recital in Room 315.

The concert will be hosted by Department of Music, the Department of History, and the Irish Cultural Association of Rhode Island. The music and history departments will also sponsor the lecture-recital earlier in the week.

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