Musical Entertainment 2016
Girsa
See what the press has had to say about this mighty band.
The Irish Echo - Young Girls No Longer: Girsa
Boston Irish Reporter An Intermission Chat with Girsa
The Irish Echo The Poised, Gifted Young Women of Girsa
Maeve Flanagan
Pamela Geraghty
Deirdre Brennan
Bernadette Flanagan
Emily McShane
Blaithin Loughran
Click on portraits to go to bio page.
John Byrne Band
The John Byrne Band is led by former Patrick's Head front man and Dublin native John Byrne. Their debut album, After the Wake, was released to critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic in 2011. With influences ranging from The Chieftains to Planxty to Bob Dylan, John's songwriting honors and expands upon the musical and lyrical traditions of his native and adopted homes. John and the band followed up After the Wake in early 2013 with an album of Celtic and American traditional tunes. The album, Celtic/Folk, released in March 2013, pushed the band on to the Folk DJ Charts, reaching number 36 in May 2015. Their third release, another collection of John Byrne originals, entitled "The Immigrant and the Orphan", is set for release in September 2015. The album, once again, draws heavily on John's love of Americana and Celtic Folk music and promises to be the band's most accessible album to date.
Authentic Irish Music, Songs & Wildly Good Craic
Shane Farrell was born in Manchester, England, to Irish parents. His mother Mary hails from County Galway and his father Tom comes from County Cavan. Shane has been performing live concerts since the age of 12 years with a variety of musicians and groups around the world including The Irish Rovers, Charlie & the Bhoys, Lùnasa, The Banshees, The Danny Burns Band, MIchael McGoldrick.
All of Shane's four siblings are multi-talented musicians, holding All-Britain and All-Ireland titles in the various array of instruments they play. Shane's older brother Colin is an accomplished fiddle & whistle player and musician at Raglan Road and member of super-group Lùnasa and American Irish group The Elders.
Shane was All Britain Champion on the fiddle, banjo & mandolin on numerous occasions. He has composed many traditional tunes and produced music for many shows and productions, including Ireland's TG4 television channel. To date, Shane has performed live over 4,000 times in Europe, Asia, USA & Australia on many different tours and theater productions promoting Irish traditional music and culture.
David Gilmore hails from a seaside town north of Dublin called Portmarnock. He was born into a musical family with his Dad firstly being in the two-piece comedy duo Ginger alongside Paul Malone, and then to front international group Bracken for over 30 years.
David started playing guitar at a young age and played around the Dublin pub scene through his college years and beyond. On summer breaks from college he played out in the Cypriot resort of Ayia Napa for three seasons playing in the famous Luke Kelly Irish bar
After college, David headed over to the ever popular resort of Benidorm on Spain's costa Blanca coast. Starting out as a solo act in the harp bar, he went on to join the Benidorm's Irish Rovers. With his role as lead vocalist and guitars, David played alongside this lively 4-piece band for a further seven years. Playing 7 nights a week for their 10-month season, then going on the road for a month tour in the UK.
David went on to hold a 3-year residency with Shane Farrell as the Brayzen Heads at Raglan Road Irish Pub in Downtown Disney.
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The versatile repertoire of Irishtown Road consists of traditional Irish songs and some traditionally arranged original work featuring intricate vocal harmonies and instrumental variety. With two albums to their credit and another in the works, the Adams-York area’s longest-tenured Irish musical group is in their 18th year of performing together. In that time, the band has firmly established themselves as a fixture in the regional Celtic music scene. Irishtown Road enjoys playing year-round to enthusiastic crowds at concerts, festivals, pubs, weddings, wakes, special events and other venues in Pennsylvania and Maryland following the tradition that for each band member can be traced back to their Irish ancestry.
69th Pennsylvania Volunteers
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Over the years the 69th has contributed tens of thousands of dollars to various Civil War Battlefields for their preservation. Most of these funds are used to reduce the debt incurred by the purchase of historic land. WE also contributed to the Irish Famine Monument in Philadelphia.
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Dearer to our hearts is the grave program. Several volunteers search out the graves of the original members of the regiment. This is a major problem as the men disbursed all over after the war and records for the Irish were not all that well maintained. When an original grave is located, we determine what may need to be done to restore the site - replacing an old marker, possibly re-planting grass or anything else. We cover all of these costs from our music fund. When the grave is ready, we get a group together and go to the site and ion appropriate uniform conduct a period memorial service.
The "watch phrase of the 69th" is "For them, not us". The Regiment is devoted to the memory of the over 1,000 Irishmen who served in the war and the sacrifices they and their families made that slaves might be freed and this might be a united country.
The 69th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Reenacting Organization has several activities within its structure. In addition to reenactments, school programs and civic functions, it also has a singing group that plays in various places. All funds raised from these are earmarked to two very important functions:
Entertainment Schedule
Main Stage
10:00 Opening Welcome & Stage Announcements
10:30 - 11:00 69th PA Volunteers Band
11:30 - 12:30 Irishtown Road
1:00 - 2:00 Brayzen Heads
2:30 - 3:30 John Byrne Band
4:00 - 5:00 Girsa
Glen Stage
11:00 - 12:00 TBD
12:40 - 1:30 Workshop TBD
2:00 - 3:00 Workshop TBD
3:30 - 4:30 69th PA Volunteers band
Living History Encampment
10am - 5pm 69th PA Irish Volunteers
Civil War Living History Encampment
Stage sound provided by All Sound Pro
Pavilion Stage
11:00 - 11:30 TBD
12:30 - 1:00 McGinley School of Irish Dance
2:00 - 2:30 Coyle School of Irish Dance (tentative)
3:30-4:00 McGinley School of Irish Dance
Entertainers may apply to perform at future festivals by using the form on the "Apply Entertainment" page.