59th Fleadh Cheoil, Tullamore – Irish Republicby Rob Howard |
Tullamore hosted the 2009 Fleadh Cheoil, a huge festival of music, song and dance, with over 200,000 people gathering from all over the world for Ireland's largest cultural celebration. The 59th Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann was the largest ever as it returned to Tullamore for the third year in a row. Unrivalled visitor numbers and electric family atmosphere on the streets and in the pubs, made Fleadh 2009 a week to remember. The World Record for the largest traditional Irish session was broken for the third year in a row with 3,457 musicians, singers and dancers playing for 1 hour and 41 seconds in Market Square, Tullamore on August 21st. Numerous accordionists and other free reed instrument players were involved. The results for all of the numerous sections are on the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann website. Below are the results of the three most important accordion classes: Senior Diatonic Button Accordion 1st - Pádraig Mac Conraí 2nd - Vanessa Millar 3rd - Dara Ó hÉalaí Senior Piano Accordion 1st - Caitríona Ní Choileáin 2nd - Pól Mac Mathúna 3rd - Déirdre O’Reilly Accordion Bands (Senior) 1st - St. Brigid’s, Joneboro, Co. Armagh 2nd - Banna Ceoil Cháirdín, Mayo 3rd - Banna Ceoil Cháirdín, Atticall For further information email: info@fleadh2009.com |