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Sam Clague (guitar), Ultan Lavery (organ) and Jim Christy (drums) explore some classic organ trio repertoire and a selection of jazz, blues and boogaloo tunes from a funkier time.

Chris, a Clonakilty native who has emigrated to the UK, has been floating around the music scene for 18 years, gracing many pubs in Clonakilty from DeBarras to Faheys and everywhere in between.

Inspired by folk styles, Chris plays a mix of acoustic style covers and originals.

On his return to the Clonakilty stage after a long hiatus, he is extremely excited to play an acoustic set at the Clonakilty Community Resource Centre.

An idiosyncratic, challenging and richly lyrical singer/ songwriter, Junior Brother is the pseudonym of Co. Kerry, Ireland singer Ronan Kealy. Chosen as The Irish Times’ Best Irish Act of 2019 and nominated for the 2019 Choice Music Prize for Album of the Year, Junior Brother has built a rabid following thanks to unmissable live shows, and music both excitingly forward-looking and anciently evocative. His strange stories unfold with reckless abandon upon a distinctive guitar and foot tambourine accompaniment, influenced as much by the avant-garde as music from the Middle Ages and his home place in rural Ireland.

In addition to earning a Choice Music Prize nomination, Junior Brother’s trailblazing debut album “Pull The Right Rope”, also saw Kealy garner two nominations at the 2019 RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards, for Best Folk Album and Best Emerging Folk Act. Similarly, vigorous approval from modern-day Irish figureheads such as the Rubberbandits and Cillian Murphy has furthered Junior Brother’s stock, the latter playing Junior Brother several times on his BBC Radio 6 Music Show. Along-side further airplay, his television performances include appearances on RTÉ’s the Tommy Tiernan show, Other Voices and the Choice Music Prize Awards night in Vicar Street.

PRAISE FOR THE GREAT IRISH FAMINE

“Wry songs of anxiety and frustration”
The Guardian ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[An] unfiltered acoustic mix of neuroses, loss of innocence and religious oppression…Truly unforgettable”
Mojo ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Junior Brother’s The Great Irish Famine captures the range of feelings we face when learning our place in an increasingly shaky world built on a foundation of tragedy.”
PopMatters

“More ambitious than his debut, an ambition met”
The Thin Air ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“The songs of ‘The Great Irish Famine’ are from a shaken world, songs that can be both cathartic and comic, personal and universal”
Songlines ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“Magnificent…A strange but wonderful trip”
Hot Press ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Monastic refugees on rocking rampage.

Look Out!

Multi-instrumentalist Rawney (Ciarán Calnan) is an independent artist hailing
from Clonakilty in West Cork. His blend of rock, indie, folk and pop has drawn
comparisons to The Frames, Mic Christopher, Incubus, Foo Fighters and
Stereophonics, among others.

Renowned for his powerful vocals and energetic live performances, he has
honed his craft over the past decade by performing hundreds of gigs in Ireland,
UK, Australia, Canada, USA, Vietnam and Spain.
Music is in the blood. Son of the late Billy, drummer of popular showband The
Calnan Brothers, it’s no surprise that Rawney has continued that legacy.
Having played in various bands from the age of 12, most notably Setmaker, he
has been focusing on solo endeavours of late and his debut EP, Say It Loud, was
released in July ‘22.
The past two years has seen Rawney release his debut EP ‘Say It Loud’ and tour
the country, performing in top venues including DeBarra’s Clonakilty, Little
Whelan’s Dublin, Coughlan’s and Winthrop Avenue in Cork, Connolly’s of Leap,
Levis’ Ballydehob, Monroe’s Galway, Spirit Store Dundalk and The Green Room
in Dingle. There have also been support slots with the likes of Mick Flannery,
Susan O’Neill and Pauline Scanlon amongst others.
His songs have been been played on radio stations nationwide, including 2FM,
Ireland’s Classic Hits, Cork’s RedFM, Cork’s 96 FM, KCLR FM, WLR FM, LCR FM,
along with other local community and online stations.
His debut single Say It Loud won The Cork Playlist Song of the Month for June
‘22.

In February ‘23, as part of Hotpress Irish Music Month, Rawney was announced
as a finalist with Ireland’s Classic Hits Radio in the ‘A New Local Hero’
competition, which gained national coverage.
Rawney is currently in the process of recording, with new releases and gigs
planned for the coming months, including a slot at Clonakilty International
Guitar Festival which runs from 19-23 September.
Check out @rawneymusic on the usual social media platforms to stay up to
date.

Maija Sofia is a musician and writer from the rural west of Ireland. Her first album ‘Bath Time’ was nominated for the Choice Prize. Her new album ‘True Love’, released in September 2023 is a suite of experimental songs exploring states of devotion, mysticism and excess. It was praised in The Quietus as being  “about real people, alive and dead, and the power of objects, substances, time and place. It is the work of someone with an enviable talent, and it deserves a lot of love.” She has toured extensively, opening for Sharon Van Etten, Julian Baker, and Mega Bog amongst others and has been commissioned to write new music for the National Concert Hall, Cork Midsummer Festival, Solas Nua in Washington DC, Sirius Arts Centre, The DOCK and Dublin Digital Radio. She is a recipient of the Next Generation award and her poetry has been published in The Stinging Fly and Banshee.

Gamelan is the rich and ancient musical traditional of Indonesia using bronze gongs, xylophones, metallophones and other tuned percussion to create a shimmering texture and powerful resonance. It is a mesmerising sonic experience and west Cork is lucky to house the only Irish gamelan outside of a university city. These unique (no two sets are alike) hand-forged instruments are equally impressive visually, as they are intricately carved and brightly coloured. The listener will hear repertoire from the court tradition of the city of Surakarta, central Java, mixed with arrangements of Irish music, and new compositions.
For this concert at CIGF, musical director Kevin McNally will feature on a specially-designed fretless guitar in order to better match the unique tuning of the gamelan

Gamelan Spréacha Geala (Bright Sparks Gamelan) are a non-professional, community music group based in Skibbereen, new members are always welcome. It is part of the Wellbeing Network and supported by Cork ETB, Music Alive, Skibbereen Family Resource Centre and Cork Mental Health Services.

REVERB – A free outdoor performance in Spillers Lane on Sat 23rd

hear some of our local musicians who have won prizes at the recent Fleadh Ceoil.

Having spent the last 20 years living and performing in San Francisco and New Orleans, Jenny Mac returned to her native Clonakilty in 2023 and is a prominent part of the local music scene.

An impressive, versatile and extremely talented vocalist, Jenny honed her craft under the watchful eyes of Mossie Shanley, Noel Redding & Carole Appleby performing regularly in Shanleys and De Barras for 15 years before moving stateside. Jenny has guested with artists such as Hot House Flowers, Christy Dignam, Don Baker and Donovan and her repertoire is a nostalgic collection of jazz n’ blues, country rock and 60s and 70s classics.