City tunes up for feast of song and storytelling

IT WILL be all about the voice this weekend as the long-established Cork Singers’ Club present a weekend of unaccompanied song and storytelling in the city this weekend, including a special tribute to recently-deceased Frank Harte.

The festival, which takes place from March 3 to 5, will include concerts, workshops, lectures and a repeat of last year’s inaugural - and extremely popular - Walking Tour of Cork Songs, led by William Hammond of the Cork Folk Festival, which visits sites around the city, with pauses for sustenance in a few pubs.

The festival includes regular performers like Dannie Maidhcí Ó Súilleabháin, who presents a session entitled Songs and Singers of Múscraí, at festival headquarters in An Spailpín Fánach, South Main Street, on Friday. There are new acts, like The Wilson Family, from Teeside, in Britain, one of the most respected acappella groups on the folk circuit, performing at An Spailpín on Saturday.