By Adam Prudhomme
Staff Reporter
Irish culture will be on full display at Tamworth’s Gaeltacht this weekend during the sixth annual Oireactas Gaeilge Ceanada.
The festival is the biggest of its kind in North America, showcasing traditional and modern Irish culture through music, art, drama, literature, singing, dancing and workshops. It will run Friday through Sunday, starting with a series of presentations and meetings at the Tamworth Legion on Friday. On Saturday there will be live performances followed by a series of musical, singing and dancing competitions on Sunday. Experts will make the trip from Ireland to judge the competition.
This year, the festival will feature a special guest in Brian O’Baoill, president of the Oireactas festival who will be travelling from Ireland to attend the Tamworth event. He has worked with local organizer Aralt Chainnigh over the last six years to help plan the event and will be making his first trip to see it in person.
“He has written a play that we’re presenting about D’arcy Mcgee,” said Chainnigh. “His story is really the Irish role in Canadian confederation which is a deeply important thing in the sesquicentennial of our mighty country.”
Ireland’s ambassador to Canada, Jim Kelly, will also be on hand for a special tree planting ceremony Sunday at noon.
Starting Saturday morning will be a handful of workshops in fiddling, whistle, bodhran and Irish speaking, the latter with advanced and beginning classes. They will run from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
“All of the fiddlers in Lennox and Addington should come down because there’s just a lot to be learned about the Irish tradition of fiddling,” said Chainnigh. “We’ve got a fiddling workshop with Saskia Tomkins, a previous all-Britain winner for Irish fiddling.”
Her son Oisin will be teaching a bodran workshop.
“That’s the Irish drum,” explains Chainnigh. “People that aren’t that familiar with Irish music, when they see people playing this drum it’s just a circular goat drum, it’s got a really good sound and it’s very characteristic of Irish music.”
A complete list and schedule of the events can be found at www.oireachtas.ca.
The Oireactas was launched six years ago as a way to further Irish culture in Canada. It is held at the Tamworth Gaeltacht, which serves as a meeting place for both Irish and Canadian people who wish to study the Irish culture. It’s located at 298 Gilmore Rd.