‘Everything That’s Good About Irish Music,’ April 8 At Meeting House

The Shamrock Traditional Irish Music Society (STIMS), Fairfield County’s non-profit Irish cultural association, will bring the band Craobh Rua to Newtown Meeting House on Friday, April 8, at 8 pm, for the latest in their popular concert series.

Craobh Rua (pronounced “Crave Roo-uh”) is one of Belfast’s top Irish traditional bands. They draw their name, which translates from Irish Gaelic as “Red Branch,” from the legendary Red Branch Knights, the comrades of the hero Cú Chulainn. Combining the talents of Brian Connolly on banjo and mandolin, Jim Rainey on guitar and vocals, Conor Caldwell on fiddle, and Aaron Hagan on uilleann pipes (the Irish bellows-blown bagpipe) and tin whistle, Craobh Rua takes an unpretentious yet uncommonly skilled approach to some of the greatest music on the planet.

Offering a range of material from soulful songs to blazing hot jigs and reels (instrumental dance music), the four musicians of Craobh Rua fully live up to The Belfast Telegraph’s words of praise: “Craobh Rua are free advertisement for everything that’s good about Irish Traditional Music – they play it from the heart and they play it superbly.”

For nearly twenty years they have been touring around Ireland and the world. They have performed on RTÉ (the Irish national radio and television broadcaster), the BBC, and the Voice of America, and have played to enthusiastic audiences in concert halls and festival venues from Slovenia and the United States to Australia and nearly everywhere in between. As well as sharing stages with other great traditional acts from Ireland and the rest of the Celtic nations, such as the legendary Irish band De Dannan and the Breton harper Alan Stivell, they have taken part in an “Ireland meets Mongolia” collaboration with the Mongolian traditional band Egschiglen.

They have released five albums to date, the most recent being the aptly-titled If Ida Been Here Ida Been There.

Tickets are $20 for adults and $5 for children. STIMS concerts at the Meeting House have a history of selling out, so reservations are strongly recommended. For reservations call 203-254-1271 or email tmquinn@optonline.net. More information may be found at the society’s website, www.ShamrockIrishMusic.org.