Claremorris hosting First Delia Murphy Festival
May 15, 2013
Media Release May 2013
Claremorris hosting first Delia Murphy Festival
Family, friends and fans of local Irish ballad singer Delia Murphy are coming together to host the inaugural Delia Murphy Festival in Delia’s birthplace, Claremorris, Co Mayo on 29-30 June this year.
‘We want to capture memories of Delia’s music and lively personality and introduce a new generation to her songs,’ said granddaughter Carol Kiernan. ‘The Festival will also attract international tourists to Mayo as Delia’s fans are spread across the globe’.
The Festival Music Director is Delia’s grandson, Connemara musician and composer Ronan Browne. ‘Popular Irish musicians will break from their usual repertoire to perform some of the many songs recorded by Delia. The Festival concert will be a unique musical experience where we’ll all go home singing,’ he said.
Celebrating the music of Delia Murphy, the Festival will also commemorate the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s visit to Ireland, which Delia’s husband and diplomat, Dr T. J. Kiernan, helped to organise.
The Festival will begin with So Many Stories To Tell on Saturday afternoon 29 June in the Dalton Inn Hotel with guest historian, biographer, family members and celebrities telling stories about Delia and Tom Kiernan and their achievements at home and abroad. They will explore Tom Kiernan, the diplomat posted to England, Italy, Australia, Germany, Canada and the friendship he developed with the President during his last posting as Ambassador to the USA. Celebrities will share their personal perspective of a favourite Delia song that has special significance to them.
Photos, rare recordings and memorabilia will be shown of the period when Delia Murphy was a familiar voice in concert and on Irish radio and television. A new CD, which includes many of Delia’s signature songs, will also be released during the weekend.
Leading Irish singers will perform Delia’s songs at a dinner concert in the evening. Tickets for the dinner and/or concert are available in Claremorris at Shine boutique (Tel. 094 9373206), the Dalton Inn Hotel (Tel 949371488) or on the Festival website (www.spinningwheelsite.com). It is recommended to buy early as there are limited seats available.
The weekend festivities will conclude with a big Irish breakfast where oral historians will record Festival visitors’ reminiscences of the impact of the President’s Irish visit and of Delia’s music on their lives.
‘The Delia Murphy Festival at Claremorris, Co Mayo will be the place to be over the last weekend in June, with the whole town celebrating one of our own, Ballad Queen of Connemara, Delia Murphy’, said Nina Warde, Delia’s grand niece and proprietor of Shine boutique Claremorris.
Media inquiries
Nina Warde, proprietor Shine boutique, Claremorris Tel. 0872808283
Carol Kiernan, Delia’s granddaughter, spinningwheelsite@gmail.com
