TUAM traditional band Rí Rá are to embark on a brief tour of Northern Europe next month that will bring them to Finland and Germany, where they will be one of the headline acts at an Irish Folk Festival.
The group have been invited back to Finland following their hugely successful visit to the country for the Irish Music Festival in Oulu last year.
They will play a series of intimate gigs in the city, from August 2 to August 4, including one to celebrate the wedding of the man who invited them to play at the festival, Dunmore
native Ollie Hussey.
Following on from their Finnish dates, the band will travel to Germany for the Irish Folk Festival in Balve, which is near Dortmund in the north west of the country.
Fergus Donnellan, lead guitarist with the group, says the tour offers the band a wonderful chance to bring their music to a growing audience.
"We had a wonderful time in Oulu last year when we played the Irish Music Festival, although it was a very short trip as we played the gig on a Friday and were on a plane back home
again on the Monday," she said.
"This time we’ll have the chance to celebrate Ollie’s wedding to his fiancée Marika with our first gig, before we play three more nights in the city.
"We’re busy at the moment learning new arrangements for the tour and of course learning a bit of Finnish to get us by while we’re over there."
From Finland, Rí Rá head to the German town of Balve where they will play in one of Europe’s largest natural caves as one of the opening acts of the Irish Folk Festival.
The venue, which seats 1,500 people, will be the main venue of the three-day festival from August 7 to August 9, which also features acts including Rig the Jig, Uisce Beatha and Five Alive O.
The band was asked to play the festival by a Kilkenny man who came across their music on the Rí Rá website.
Sean Reeves has been living in Germany for over 30 years and thought the Tuam group’s repertoire would go down a treat with German/Irish folk fans at the annual event.
"We were delighted to be invited over to do the Balve festival as we had a wonderful time when we played in Straubing for the 15th anniversary of the twining with Tuam two years ago," said
Rí Rá’s Olivia Donnellan.
"We’re looking forward to going back for the fantastic reception we got from the German audience."
Dunmore group to play in Oulu
Meanwhile, Dunmore group the Piper Strings have been invited to play at this year’s Irish Music Festival in Oulu in October.
The Howley brothers will bring their large repertoire of songs to the Tervasoihtu pub on Friday, October 3.
- Tuam Herald, 24th July 2007