May 2023
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Next Generation, Celebrating 25 Years, Influences the Lives of Young Traditional Irish Musicians
Call it a very happy accident. One day 25 years ago, Voorhees, N.J., Irish musician and teacher Kathy DeAngelo received a call from the Garden State Discovery Museum in Cherry Hill, asking if she could arrange a performance of some of her harp students “and stuff.” “I said, yeah, what are you looking for? An hour or something?” DeAngelo recalls. “They said, ‘Yeah, sure. We just want to bill it as part of our multicultural […] Read More
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The 2023 Philly Rose of Tralee Marissa Berry Has a Special Platform to Share
Marissa Berry was pretty sure that becoming the 2023 Philadelphia Rose of Tralee “wasn’t in the cards for me.” The Rose of Tralee Center in Ireland instituted a policy for the 65 Rose Centers around the world that stipulates that each send competitors to the 64-year-old community festival only every other year. It had become unmanageable to have 65 Rose candidates competing in Tralee, a town of about 23,000 people in County Kerry. “I was […] Read More
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Four Irish Dancers Who Share a Love of Dancing–and a Serious Disease
They call themselves the “Diabesties.” They’re four young dancers at McGough Academy of Irish Dance in West Chester who share more than a competitive spirit and a passion for Irish dance. All four, who range in age from 9 to 12 and include a brother and sister, have Type 1 diabetes, a relatively rare disease that’s seen a 30 percent increase in diagnoses since 2002, mainly in children and teens. It’s an odd fluke that […] Read More
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Trivia with “Billy D”
I stopped in the’ Pub on the Pike’, Rockledge’s Gaul & Co Malt House to see what all the quizzo hubbub was about. Billy Donahue of Shantys fame was holding court and trying to stump the house full of Quizzo buffs. As I looked around, everyone sitting at the tables in both rooms and even those at the bar had their sheets and pencils in front of them anxiously waiting for the next question. The […] Read More
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Dinner and Dancing “At the Crossroads”
Inspired by Janet McShain’s beautiful painting, that graces the stage at the Commodore John Barry Arts and Cultural Center, Pari Livermore and Kathy Magee Burns conceived of this event to benefit the Irish Center. The crossroads dance was a type of event popular in Ireland years ago, in which people would congregate at the large cleared space of a crossroads to dance. The tradition of the dance was continued in America at local Social clubs, […] Read More
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Kersti Powell, Advancing Irish Studies at St. Joe’s
Born in the Baltic nation of Estonia, St. Joseph’s University associate professor of English Kersti Tarien Powell first encountered the works of John Banville, Irish author of the Booker Prize-winning novel “The Sea,” in the British Council library in the Estonian capital city of Talinn. “It wasn’t even a library,” Powell says, looking back. “It was more like a bookcase that they had there, for people who just didn’t feel like taking their paperbacks home. […] Read More
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‘Crossroads’ by Janet McShain
Soulfully on display as a vibrant yet grounding backdrop for the Philadelphia Irish Community’s sacred cultural life- Janet McShain’s grand and luminous painting,“Crossroads,” offers added beauty and depth to the many gatherings held at TheCommodore Barry Irish and Cultural Center. Janet’s sensitive brushstrokescreate a warmly inviting scene layered with as many greens as the Artist couldboth imagine and create from her palette; and from her knowledge of Ireland’sbeloved landscape. Golden light filters softly on hearth […] Read More
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Looking for Some Craic? Face “The Consequences”
They call themselves “The Consequences,” but this exciting young Irish trad group could have called themselves “The Champions.” Because they all are. Lexie Boatright is a multiple All-Ireland award winning harpist and concertina player. Jake James is a two-time All-Ireland fiddle champion. Cara Wildman is an All-Ireland champion bodhran player. And pianist and accordion player Ryan Ward is the current reigning Senior All-Ireland Accompaniment Champion. They come from all over: Lexi from the Washington, DC, area, […] Read More
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The Feis @ The Fleadh
Fleadh is an archaic spelling of the Irish word fleá (pronounced [fʲlʲaː]), meaning a festive occasion or banquet. It is used by a number of festivals such as The Philadelphia Fleadh, which have an Irish-originated inspiration. The term Feis is commonly used referring to Irish dance competitions , So there you have it, Irish Lesson 101. I’ve been going to this festival since it began. This year was the best by far. The Feis has taken on […] Read More
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2023 Philadelphia Rose of Tralee
Softly smooth gentle to the eye. Oh, so fragile and sweet to smell a woman is a blessing from the sky. Each is uniquely enfolded in its own delicate form. But all possess adorable traits that were specifically created and magnificently transform her position and are able to withstand any life-raining storm. Her empowerment of alluring beauty is shapely made with everything in tack a persona of wonder that it doesn’t lack. A woman can […] Read More