Youghal Comhaltas Reveal Major Plans

Posted on July 8, 2008

By Christy Parker | Photo:Michael Hussey (YoughalOnline.com)

Ceolti Si

Youghal Comhaltas unveiled several important developments for 2008 at a civic reception hosted by the Town Council last week. Over 200 hundred members, families, friends and dignitaries attended the 90-minute event, and were also witness to the demonstrations of the marvellous talents in music, song and dance that has brought Comhaltas Craobh Eochaile high acclaim locally, nationally and internationally in recent years.

Chairman Micheal de Buitleir spoke of the exciting times ahead for the progressive organisation, now in its 26th year:

1) Ceolta Si Summer 2008: ‘The Monday night summer shows at Bru na Si are underway again. It’s a constantly evolving show and we’ll have a new repertoire but will also be welcoming back some old faces. These are people who were with us as children, some of whom left, travelled the world and are now returned.

‘Ceolta Si mostly features our senior performers, who have represented their town and country so excellently in places like China, Czech Republic, Wales and Mexico. The shows are hugely popular with tourists and are performed in a non-drinking environment, though we finish well before closing time and often perform another session in a bar afterwards.

‘By agreement between Youghal Town Council and Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann, Ceolta Si will also perform in the Mall Arts Centre through August. During July various technical issue like lighting, sound and stage extension will be addressed, so that come August we’ll provide a top class professional show, seating about 70. ‘We’ll also be working with Youghal Visual Arts Festival projects during July.’

2) Bru na Si Extension: Due to growing demand, planning permission is being sought for a two-storey extension at an estimated cost of €300,000. It will harbour five classrooms and focus on education and IT technology. We presently have three performance groups, with two more on stream. In time we hope to be able to supply a full-time artistic director and support teachers.

‘Bru na Si is sited on land leased to us on a 35-year agreement from Youghal Town Council. We believe in active citizenship and so we welcome its use by other community organisations. Present users include various arts and religious bodies.

‘We are currently developing a strategy with the Youghal Strategic Development Group and hopefully Bru ns Si will become a training centre for other groups through future years. We have top class facilities and if we can help lift all boats, economically, culturally and socially, all the better. Cork County Council also wishes to install Bru na Si be as the centre for a Local Irish Traditional Music Education Scheme (LITMES). This would involve developing a curriculum for classes as well as local projects concerning music, song, dance and folklore that would also engage other local cultural groups.

‘Funding for the extension is an ongoing project in itself. We are drawing up a business case with which to approach potential funding bodies across a broad spectrum of agencies. Ceolta Si is also a major revenue source that has proved invaluable in the past and given us a start on the extension costs already.’

‘Meantime we hope Youghal Town Council can improve the road frontage on Magnier’s Hill, as the present road is neither positively impacts nor is conducive to tourism.”

3) Educational Projects: ‘We want to extend our outreach programme from th present local national schools towards an over-arching musical service from Bun Scoil to Third Level education. We’ve made submissions to Cork County Council’s Arts and Cultural Policy Group, who are helping us towards soliciting funding through a multi-agency approach, from such as the Enterprise Board, the VEC, ECAD, etc.’

4) New Website: ‘A website is a marketing tool. We’ll continue to be linked to the Comhaltas Ceoltoiri site but also have our own at www.ceoltasi.ie. Globally, visitors seek out certain attractions and services in advance, so the website is a marketing tool. It has been set up by Artistic Director Daithi Kearney, Polish friend Slawek Amielucha and French member Maria Effler.’

5) Italian Visitors: On Thursday July 24th, Li Pistacoppi, a folk group from Macerate in eastern Italy, will visit as part of the Cork International Folk Dance Festival. Normally we host groups for longer but this year are limiting it to one day due to financial priorities.’

6) Foreign trips: Any organisation’s biggest challenge is to keep teenagers actively involved. We have a performance group at the lower end of the teen age called La na Cuinne, which means ‘Centre of the Universe.’ We are proud of them and regard them as such because they are the future of music. International trips are planned for them.’

7) Visit to the Czech Republic: On July 19th, ten teenage members plus five adults, will leave for a 12-day trip to the Czech Republic, as part of a European Youth Network project. They will join three similar groups from Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, in a specially convened hotel in the Kroknose Mountains, three hours from Prague.

Artistic Director Daithi Kearney explains the purpose of “sharing our individual cultures through music, song and dance, in a non-competitive environment. Each group will have one afternoon to talk about what it’s like being a teenager in their country, why they play music and so on. We’ll also try to perform each other’s music and dances.

The participants will eventually form “a multi-national orchestra of sorts”, says Daithi, “through which each country will be trying to use their own instruments to play the other countries’ folk music. For example, I’ve broken down a few Irish tunes, so there will be arrangements within them for violins, fiddles, cellos, double bases, trumpets and horns. The idea is that while they may not share the same language, they can all still play music together. In coming years, we will host these other countries, which will further promote our region.

* Details on Youghal Comhaltas events will appear on the branch’s new website, www.ceoltasi.ie. Tele inquiries from Michael de Buitleir on 0877934504 or Youghal Tourist office (024) 20170