Large crowds expected for top line-up at arts festival

Even bigger crowds are expected to attend this year’s Skibbereen Arts Festival as it grows in popularity with its impressive line-up of musicians, actors and artists from home and abroad.

The seventh annual event commences next weekend and runs until August 2. Some of the headline names include acclaimed artist Robert Ballagh, and Scottish troubadours James Yorkston and Alasdair Roberts.

The festival will also feature a screening of Earth, with original soundtrack played by 3Epkano.

The Abbeystrewry Church will be the home to many concerts by various talented musicians for the week.

Included will be a rare Irish appearance by Scottish troubadours for a double concert, the Canon Goodman Concert hosted by folk legends Andy Irvine and Donal Lunny, a unique reprisal of The Bird Song Project, also featuring The Starling Song Project developed by Liz Clark, and a very special tribute to song collector Alan Lomax — featuring amongst others, David Kitt, Cian Nugent, and Eibhlís Cronin.

Also featuring will be the Congolese singer Niwel Tsimbu with his latest project RiZA — the first ever concert to be staged in Skibbereen Courthouse.

A film festival will show a series of beautiful and thought-provoking films from around the world; including the 1930 Russian masterpiece Earth, with live musical accompaniment of the original soundtrack, by the Dublin-based group 3Epkano.

There will be an outdoor screening of Italian favourite Cinema Paradiso, 2015 Oscar-winning Irish animated film Song of the Sea, which features the voices of well-known Irish actors such as Brendan Gleeson, Patt Short, Fionnula Flanagan, and many more, as well as documentaries on two of the giants of Irish history — Padraig Pearse and WB Yeats.

The festival opens with a very special event on Friday to mark the centenary of the death of Jeremiah O’ Donovan Rossa, when the town goes back to the 19th century with a spectacular street parade to commemorate the life and times of one of the town’s most famous sons.

For more information on event listings and tickets, see http://www.skibbereenartsfestival.com / or https://www.facebook.com SkibbereenArts