When you think Carlow – festivals wouldn’t be the first things to spring to mind, but already with Éigse, we have another magnificent festival to celebrate all things arty this summer! Coming up in August, we see the start of something new, something fresh and something interesting, a world music and arts festival. Indiego World Music Festival, in the stead of its neighbour “Electric Picnic”, wants to start something different, but unlike “Electric Picnic”, it’s not just about the music, although it plays a great part of it, it will be something the whole family can enjoy. Sharon O’Neill (Arts and Entertainment Officer) explained that during the festival there will be workshops, theatre pieces, and a special place for the kids to play and learn called the “secret garden”. There are quite a few interesting theatre and workshops, and looks like there will be something for everyone, no matter what taste or style you have!

On Friday night we got a small sample of the great acts that will play at the festival. The idea has been in the making since November of last year, but really didn’t kick off till February, at which point it has snow balled out of all proportions. (With such technologies of social networking site, Facebook, where they could look for bands, supporters, and the like. Also using the old mediums like magazine press and hours of phone calls later, the idea took legs and ran!) The brain child of Mags McMonagle, she gave it care, and created a great team. Every member that I met, during the night, was energetic and enthusiastic, all working towards a collective goal!

The night kicked off with a champagne reception kindly laid on by The Temple ,shortly followed by the musical styling’s of Joe Cleere(on acoustic guitar) and Tara Connaughan (on fiddle) playing us a quick reel of Irish music, warming up the crowd. Unfortunately we were only allowed one reel, as Tara Connaughan had to run off to another appointment. We were then schooled in emotion, somewhat in opposition to the previous music, by “Little Black Wren”, a soloist with a band, allowing the lead singer to expand as needed. She kept her set short, unfortunately.

The night rolled on with some music from one of the musical directors of the festival, Brian O’Callaghan. Followed by Eddy Lenahan. Who regaled us with some magnificent music from the 50/60’s.
We finally got to the final act, the ever popular “CLEERE”, lead by the national famous Joe Cleere and his band made up of Martin Townsend on the bass and Mike Hayden on the drums. They gathered the audience before they started and then got into promoting their new debut album, “East-West”, playing several songs covering a range of emotions, and social situations, he finished, thanking the crowd, but alas they cried for more! So he did, amazing the crowd with the song that titles the album, which was received happily by the crowd. Unfortunately it was at this point that I had to make my escape, due to illness (not drink induced before you get any ideas!!), as I wished I could of stayed longer.

If this is the small taste of the festival, I can’t wait till the whole pie comes August 6th/7th/8th. Here’s MonteCarlow.ie wishing the festival crew all the best, and we hope we can cover as much of the festival as we can! Why not visit http://www.indiegoworldmusic.com/ or find them on Facebook to read more about this Fenagh based festival!