Tradfest

For some great trad (and other) music in August check out the National Concert Hall where the 10^th ESB BEO Celtic Music Festival runs from 22-29 Aug. Making his NCH debut, singer-songwriter Luka Bloom kicks things off, sharing the stage with stunning Scottish vocalist Eddi Reader, and the following night it’s the turn of Paul Brady who’ll be mixing old favourites with new material as part of his solo Travelin’ Light Tour. The 80-strong Meitheal Orchestra are joined by the inimitable Sharon Shannon for a lunchtime gig on Wed 26, and on Sun 29 you can hear the hugely influentialWaterson Family in what could well be the festival highlight. Ambassadors for British folk music for almost half a century, the extended Waterson Family includes double Mercury Prize nominee Eliza Carthy, her da Martin Carthy, whose settings of traditional songs with guitar have influenced everyone from Dylan to Paul Simon and Billy Bragg, and her mother Norma Waterson – all three played recently as part of Hal Wilmer’s Rogue’s Gallery. www.nch.ie