Clonmel Junction Festival
Encyclopedia
Clonmel Junction Festival is an annual festival held in the town of Clonmel
. The festival starts on the first week-end of July and runs for nine days. It is a multi discipline arts festival mixing theatre
, circus
, dance
, music
and street theatre
.
Clonmel Junction Festival was established in 2001 and has grown to be one of the most significant cultural celebrations of the Irish summer festival season. The festival has been described as punching well above its weight for a town with no committed performing arts venue.
. The highlight of the event being Cracked by Quare Hawks Theatre Company.
In 2002, the festival expanded its format to included Rock Music
featuring Damien Rice
and Kíla
. A participation programme was also introduced this year. The programme involved local school children creating street art that was put on display for the duration of the festival. This has since become annual program which engages over 300 children every year.
2003 featured the premiere of Des Dillon’s Teac a Bloc. This was also the last year that the festival was run by the Galloglass Theatre Company.
2006 saw the festival bring Nofit State Circus
to Clonmel for five sell-out shows. As part of this year festival, there was also a celebration of newly established Polish community
within Clonmel, in a mini Polish Festival.
The 10th Clonmel Junction Festival took place in 2010,the focus of the event shifted to circus. The festival featured circus acts from Ireland
and abroad, including Fossett's Circus and Les Parfaits Inconnus. The music line up included Cathy Davey
, Republic of Loose
and Mick Flannery
. It also featured the premiere of Me Seeing You 2, by the Iseli Chiodi Dance Company commissioned by the Festival, South Tipperary Arts Office and The Excel Centre.
within Clonmel, in a mini Polish Festival.
Followed by the success of the Space Time Machine in 2007 the Festival organized Da Fair deadly Pirateswarm, 2008 youth project. The same year a collaboration was organized between Body Mind & Soul, visiting artists from Malawi
and Maslow, a young local band. Sensazione, an eco-theatrical fun fair was the headline event in 2008. Along with this several other theatre world premières took place during the nine days including 'Raw', a creation of the aerial dance company Fidget Feet in collaboration with the festival and made possible by funding from the Arts Council
.
2002 – Gorilla Goes Beautiful by Lieber Gorilla, Moze Fan Fan, Damien Rice
2003 - The premiere of Des Dillon’s Teach a Bloc
2004 – Tom Crean Antarctic Explorer by Aidan Dooley,
Romeo and Juliet by The Daylight Players
2005 – KT Tunstall
, Yair Dalal
, Máirtín O'Connor
2006 – Nofit State Circus
, Liam Clancy
and Odetta
2007 - The Syringa Tree, Foy Vance
, Mary Black
2008 – Nicole and Martin, Paul Brady
, The Blizzards
, Fidget Feet
2009 - Cafe Carte Blanche
2010 - Cathy Davey
, Republic of Loose
, Kíla
, Mick Flannery
Clonmel
Clonmel is the county town of South Tipperary in Ireland. It is the largest town in the county. While the borough had a population of 15,482 in 2006, another 17,008 people were in the rural hinterland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian army which sacked both...
. The festival starts on the first week-end of July and runs for nine days. It is a multi discipline arts festival mixing theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
, circus
Circus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
, dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
, music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
and street theatre
Street theatre
Street theatre is a form of theatrical performance and presentation in outdoor public spaces without a specific paying audience. These spaces can be anywhere, including shopping centres, car parks, recreational reserves and street corners. They are especially seen in outdoor spaces where there are...
.
Clonmel Junction Festival was established in 2001 and has grown to be one of the most significant cultural celebrations of the Irish summer festival season. The festival has been described as punching well above its weight for a town with no committed performing arts venue.
Early Years
Clonmel Junction Festival was established in 2001 by the now defunct Galloglass Theatre Company. It featured four theatre shows, one comedy performance and a small number of Traditional Music performances in local pubsPublic house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
. The highlight of the event being Cracked by Quare Hawks Theatre Company.
In 2002, the festival expanded its format to included Rock Music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
featuring Damien Rice
Damien Rice
Damien Rice is an Irish singer-songwriter, musician and record producer who plays guitar, piano, clarinet and percussion....
and Kíla
Kíla
Kíla are an Irish folk music/World music group, originally formed in 1987 in the Irish Language secondary school, Coláiste Eoin in Co. Dublin. Kila's blend of Irish traditional music and World Music with a modern rock sensibility is generally credited with breathing new life into contemporary Irish...
. A participation programme was also introduced this year. The programme involved local school children creating street art that was put on display for the duration of the festival. This has since become annual program which engages over 300 children every year.
2003 featured the premiere of Des Dillon’s Teac a Bloc. This was also the last year that the festival was run by the Galloglass Theatre Company.
Independence
2004 saw Clonmel Junction Festival became an independent organization run by a board of directors. The success of festival lead to its expansion in 2005, increasing from a six day event to nine day event.2006 saw the festival bring Nofit State Circus
Nofit State Circus
NoFit State Circus is a contemporary circus company based in Cardiff, Wales.Formed in 1986, NoFit State Circus have been a mainstay of new and contemporary circus in the United Kingdom since their inception, and have toured tented and theatrical shows at home and abroad...
to Clonmel for five sell-out shows. As part of this year festival, there was also a celebration of newly established Polish community
Polish minority in Ireland
The Polish minority in the Republic of Ireland numbered approximately 63,276 according to 2006 census figures, making it the largest minority in the country excluding those born in the United Kingdom. However, the census that year was believed by the government to have underestimated the number of...
within Clonmel, in a mini Polish Festival.
The 10th Clonmel Junction Festival took place in 2010,the focus of the event shifted to circus. The festival featured circus acts from Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
and abroad, including Fossett's Circus and Les Parfaits Inconnus. The music line up included Cathy Davey
Cathy Davey
Cathy Davey is an Irish singer-songwriter. She has released one extended play, "Come Over" , and three albums, Something Ilk , Tales of Silversleeve and The Nameless...
, Republic of Loose
Republic of Loose
Republic of Loose are an Irish funk rock band from Dublin. Formed in 2001, the band currently consists of lead vocalist Mick Pyro, bass guitarist and vocalist Benjamin Loose, keyboardist Darragh, guitarists and vocalists Dave Pyro and Darach O' Laoire and drummers and percussionists Andre Lopes...
and Mick Flannery
Mick Flannery
Mick Flannery is an Irish singer-songwriter from Blarney, County Cork.His debut album Evening Train resulted from his time spent studying music and management at Coláiste Stiofáin Naofa in Cork...
. It also featured the premiere of Me Seeing You 2, by the Iseli Chiodi Dance Company commissioned by the Festival, South Tipperary Arts Office and The Excel Centre.
Artistic Projects
The Participation Programme made it possible to transform Clonmel into a “forest” in 2006. The villages in the forest were set up by the programme. Several acts brought their villages with them in their own way. There was also a celebration of the emerging Polish villagePolish minority in Ireland
The Polish minority in the Republic of Ireland numbered approximately 63,276 according to 2006 census figures, making it the largest minority in the country excluding those born in the United Kingdom. However, the census that year was believed by the government to have underestimated the number of...
within Clonmel, in a mini Polish Festival.
Followed by the success of the Space Time Machine in 2007 the Festival organized Da Fair deadly Pirateswarm, 2008 youth project. The same year a collaboration was organized between Body Mind & Soul, visiting artists from Malawi
Malawi
The Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Its size...
and Maslow, a young local band. Sensazione, an eco-theatrical fun fair was the headline event in 2008. Along with this several other theatre world premières took place during the nine days including 'Raw', a creation of the aerial dance company Fidget Feet in collaboration with the festival and made possible by funding from the Arts Council
Arts Council of Ireland
The Arts Council of Ireland was founded in 1951 by the Government of Ireland to encourage interest in Irish art and channel to funding from the state to Irish artists and arts organisations...
.
Highlights over the years
2001 - Cracked by Quare Hawks Theatre Company2002 – Gorilla Goes Beautiful by Lieber Gorilla, Moze Fan Fan, Damien Rice
2003 - The premiere of Des Dillon’s Teach a Bloc
2004 – Tom Crean Antarctic Explorer by Aidan Dooley,
Romeo and Juliet by The Daylight Players
2005 – KT Tunstall
KT Tunstall
Kate Victoria "KT" Tunstall is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist from St Andrews, Scotland. She broke into the public eye with a 2004 live solo performance of her song "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" on Later... with Jools Holland...
, Yair Dalal
Yair Dalal
Yair Dalal is an Israeli musician of Iraqi-Jewish descent.His main instruments are the oud and the violin, and he also sings as accompaniment. He composes his own music and draws on Arab and Jewish traditions, as well as European classical music and Indian music...
, Máirtín O'Connor
Máirtín O'Connor
Máirtín O'Connor is an Irish button accordionist who began playing the accordion at the age of nine, and his career has seen him as a member of many traditional music groups including, Midnight Well, De Dannan, The Boys of the Lough, and Skylark....
2006 – Nofit State Circus
Nofit State Circus
NoFit State Circus is a contemporary circus company based in Cardiff, Wales.Formed in 1986, NoFit State Circus have been a mainstay of new and contemporary circus in the United Kingdom since their inception, and have toured tented and theatrical shows at home and abroad...
, Liam Clancy
Liam Clancy
William "Liam" Clancy was an Irish folk singer and actor from Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary. He was the youngest and last surviving member of performing group The Clancy Brothers. The group were regarded as Ireland's first pop stars...
and Odetta
Odetta
Odetta Holmes, known as Odetta, was an American singer, actress, guitarist, songwriter, and a human rights activist, often referred to as "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement". Her musical repertoire consisted largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and spirituals...
2007 - The Syringa Tree, Foy Vance
Foy Vance
Foy Vance is a musician from Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland. His first single "Gabriel and the Vagabond" was released on 18 December 2006 on Wurdamouth Records. The single's B-side was "Indiscriminate Act of Kindness"...
, Mary Black
Mary Black
Mary Black is an Irish singer. She is well known as an interpreter of both folk and contemporary material which has made her a major recording artist in her native Ireland, and in many other parts of the world....
2008 – Nicole and Martin, Paul Brady
Paul Brady
Paul Joseph Brady is an Irish singer-songwriter, whose work straddles folk and pop. He was interested in a wide variety of music from an early age...
, The Blizzards
The Blizzards
The Blizzards are an Irish band from Mullingar in County Westmeath. They were formed by Niall Breslin in late 2004, and also feature Dec Murphy , Justin Ryan, Anthony Doran and Aidan Lynch...
, Fidget Feet
2009 - Cafe Carte Blanche
2010 - Cathy Davey
Cathy Davey
Cathy Davey is an Irish singer-songwriter. She has released one extended play, "Come Over" , and three albums, Something Ilk , Tales of Silversleeve and The Nameless...
, Republic of Loose
Republic of Loose
Republic of Loose are an Irish funk rock band from Dublin. Formed in 2001, the band currently consists of lead vocalist Mick Pyro, bass guitarist and vocalist Benjamin Loose, keyboardist Darragh, guitarists and vocalists Dave Pyro and Darach O' Laoire and drummers and percussionists Andre Lopes...
, Kíla
Kíla
Kíla are an Irish folk music/World music group, originally formed in 1987 in the Irish Language secondary school, Coláiste Eoin in Co. Dublin. Kila's blend of Irish traditional music and World Music with a modern rock sensibility is generally credited with breathing new life into contemporary Irish...
, Mick Flannery
Mick Flannery
Mick Flannery is an Irish singer-songwriter from Blarney, County Cork.His debut album Evening Train resulted from his time spent studying music and management at Coláiste Stiofáin Naofa in Cork...
Sources
- Irish Newspaper Archives - Accessed 25 April 2009
- The Festival, as presented by the official Irish Tourism body.