Irish Traditional music royalty, including Clannad’s Moya Brennan and Mairead Ní Mhaonnaigh from Altan, visited Derry last week to lend their support to the “Bring the Fleadh to Derry” campaign, prior to their sell out show at Derry’s award winning Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin.
Moya Brennan, formerly with the Donegal based band Clannad, Mairead Ní Mhaonnaigh, one of Ireland’s leading fiddle players and the lead vocalist for the Irish super group Altan, and Triona Ní Dhomhnail and Maighréad Ní Dhomhnail, both of whom performed with the highly respected Skara Brae, took part in a photo shoot to celebrate and promote Derry’s bid for the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in 2013.
Speaking at before the gig Mairead Ní Mhaonnaigh commented “This is great news for Derry and I wish the bid well, if we can do anything to assist the bid we will all be delighted to help.”
The Bring the Fleadh to Derry campaign is going from strength to strength at the present time, with the passing of each month heralding more support from around the island of Ireland for this major event to be held in Derry. If successful the event would bring in over £30 million to the local economy and attract over 250,000 visitors over a 7 day period.
The awarding body for Fleadh Cheoil, Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, recently held their Annual Congress meeting in Tullamore, where the Derry bid was discussed and received recognition within the prestigious Congress Annual Report. The report highlighted the strength of its current campaign and the strong political support coming from the First Minister Peter Robinson and the Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness. Both politicians have sentComhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann a joint letter urging Comhaltas to award Derry the host status for 2013 highlighting that by “this would be major recognition of the changes that have come about in recent years and would encourage many thousands of additional visitors to experience the magic of the city.”
Eibhlin Ní Dhochartaigh from Comhaltas Doire, who is spearheading the “Bring the Fleadh to Derry campaign commented “We are delighted with how the campaign is currently progressing and after our recent meetings at the Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann Congress I know we will have the support when it comes to the final vote next year.” For more information on the campaign visit www.2013fleadh.ie or www.facebook.com/bringthefleadhtoderry