Please note we are working on the bands right now for 2013. Below is the list from last year and will be updated when the bands are booked.
The Fourth Annual Hudson Valley Irish Festival will feature performances by several top Irish recording artists and bands including Black 47, Jameson’s Revenge, and Girsha, special surprise artists and featuring Tim Murphy performing the stirring “Firefighter’s Creed.” Our area’s finest Irish step-dancers and massed pipe bands will again entertain people of all ages.
Line Up for Saturday, September 22
3pm: Girsa
5pm: Tim Murphy & Massed Pipe Bands followed by Black 47
All Throughout the Day
Pipes & Drums of the Police Emerald Society of Westchester County, Local 21 Pipe Band, Blackthorn Pipes & Drums and for the first time, Pipes & Drums of the Port Authority Police Department of NY & NJ!
About Our Featured Bands
ABOUT BLACK 47: Taking their name from the worst year of the Irish Potato Famine, Black 47 burst onto the American scene in 1993 with its single, Funky Céilí from the CD, Fire of Freedom. The band’s signature eclectic sound, socio-political lyrics and off-the-wall live shows paved the way for other Irish influenced bands such as Flogging Molly and Dropkick Murphys. The band’s songs have long been used in political science and history courses in hundreds of high schools and colleges throughout the US.
Black 47 is led by Larry Kirwan (guitar/vocals). He has written ten plays and musicals produced in the US and Europe; five published under the title Mad Angels. Kirwan’s novel, Liverpool Fantasy, an alternate history of the Beatles, received much critical acclaim and has been translated into Spanish, Greek and Japanese. His memoir, Green Suede Shoes, was published in both the US and UK. He has recorded two solo albums, Kilroy Was Here and Keltic Kids. He hosts the popular Celtic Crush for SiriusXM Satellite Radio, and writes a controversial weekly column for the nationally distributed Irish Echo newspaper.
About Jameson’s Revenge: Back in 2006, a loosely connected group of Irish & American musicians living in The Bronx & Westchester would spontaneously meet up at different seisiuns around town from time to time to sit down, play, have a few laughs (pints) and let the tunes go where they may. After a short time they began to play various events and gigs at different music venues but no line-up would ever be the same from one gig to another. In March ’08 they collaberated on and released a cd titled “Straight from the Bottle” in the hopes of featuring the music from these extremely talented players. To this day some folks still regard the album as: “one of the best Trad-Irish compilations no-one has ever heard”.
Since then a few players have moved on to pursue other opportunities and today the group’s main line-up is comprised of: Brian McCarthy (bodhran, percussion), Andrew McCarrick (flute, whistles), John Walsh (guitar, vocals) & Denis McCarthy (fiddle, whistles).
About Girsa: We have all known each other since we were very young, growing up participating in Irish music and dance in our community of Pearl River, New York.
Most of us come from musical families, with our parents having learned Irish traditional music from such greats as Martin Mulvihill, Maureen Glynn Connelly, and Pete Kelly. Some of our parents and their lifelong friends carry on this great tradition by teaching music in the community.
We loved playing together so much that we started our own band just over 6 years ago and called it Girsa, which means “young girls” in Gaelic. We’ve been having tons of fun ever since!
Tim Murphy, “the Bard of the Hudson” is a singer songwriter who has penned the Firefighters Creed, the official song of the Fallen Firefighters Memorial at the NY State Capital. His song, “The Wall” about the Vietnam Wall in DC has been performed by many world renowned artists. A local hero and a national treasure, Tim’s enchanting music is not to be missed.
