This January, the venues and streets of Temple Bar will once again play host to one of the biggest traditional music and culture festivals in Ireland – Temple Bar TradFest. Since its inception in 2005, Temple Bar TradFest has grown in size, recognition and quality and is now a firm fixture on the national and international festival calendar attracting visitors from around the world. 
Each year, the IMRO Showcases at Temple Bar TradFest aim to shine a light on the rising stars of traditional music in Ireland. This year, four acts will take part in our showcases which will take place in the New Theatre, Temple Bar during the festival.
Entry to these showcases is FREE but due to limited capacity, booking is essential. Please email membership@nullimro.ie to reserve your seat.
Showcase 1: Thursday, 23rd January Doors 6pm
Socks in the Frying Pan – 6:30pm
The Jigsaw Jam – 7pm
Showcase 2: Friday, 24th January Doors 6pm
Donal McCague – 6:30pm
FullSet – 7pm
Both showcases will take place in The New Theatre, 43 Essex Street East, Dublin 2. www.thenewtheatre.com.
Temple Bar TradFest takes place from 22nd to 26th January 2014. Visit: www.templebartrad.com for details on all the events taking place throughout this five day festival.
About the Artists
Socks in the Frying Pan
The band comprises two brothers, Shane and Fiachra Hayes on accordion and fiddle/banjo and accompanied by Aodán Coyne on guitar and vocals.
This young trad trio from Country Clare blend Irish traditional melodies with and innovative rhythmic and melodic garnish. These socks are audibly palatable! As for the inevitable question of where the name originated? This is yet to be disclosed!
Having gained a fan-base from four years of gigging around the west of Ireland, this exciting group have recently started branching out and have been well received for their modern traditional style and energetic approach to music. This, combined with an acoustic musical interplay, three-part harmony and an obvious love for live performance, compliments the traditional essence of both tune and songs in a fresh and entertaining way. Their debut CD was launched at the Ennis Trad Festival in November and was received very well with an audience exceeding the capacity of the venue. The CD itself offers a dozen lovingly crafted tracks which the lads are eager to showcase both on the album and at their musically charged gigs.
The Jigsaw Jam
Having drawn comparisons with acts from the Beautiful South to Mumford and Sons, The Jigsaw Jam are certainly not an easy act to put a label on. Settling on ‘alternative traditional folk’, founding member and Galway native Shane Davis says that the band originally came about when he approached fiddle and ukelele player Gráinne Noone to add some of her musical talents to his singer-songwriter act. The addition of Caroline Sullivan on keys and Brenda Weir as a second vocalist gave rise to The Jigsaw Jam as we know them. Having secured a studio with a friend of a friend for the recording of the band’s EP ‘There Was A Time’, fate intervened yet again as the friend turned out to be Aidan Smyth, who became a permanent feature in the line-up after adding his bass to the recording process. The organic growth of the band was complete.
The EP got its launch at Monroe’s Live last year and received an overwhelmingly positive response, both in Ireland and abroad, and after a sold out performance upstairs in Whelans, the EP spent a week at the top of the iTunes Singer/Songwriter chart.
Donal McCague
Dónal McCague, from Scotstown, Co. Monaghan, is one of the rising stars of the fiddle. In 2013 he was named TG4 Young Musician of the Year.
Dónal is well known for his vibrant, lively and highly ornamented style. At the age of 15, he played at the Frankie Gavin International Fiddle Festival in Galway 2005 and in the National Concert Hall Dublin on St. Patrick’s Day 2006.
He has recorded for TV programmes ‘Geantraí’ on TG4 and the annual RTÉ Fleadh Programme as well as national and local radio. He has toured Europe extensively; France, Poland, Switzerland and Belgium with the well-known Irish Dance troupes Ragús and Celtic Legends.
He was won awards at both the Fiddler of Dooney, Sligo Live and in the Fiddler of Oriel, Monaghan which has been won by fiddle legends such as Tommy Peoples and Jim Mc Killop. Dónal is greatly influenced by the fiddle playing of Tommy Peoples, Séamus Quinn, Brian Rooney, Cathal Hayden, John Carty and Frankie Gavin. In 2011 he released his début solo CD entitled Bits’n’Pieces.
FullSet
All accomplished young musicians in their own right, FullSet create a stunning and unique sound that is full of energy and innovation, whilst all the time remaining true to their traditional roots. In recent years this young group has received much critical acclaim, even being compared to supergroups such as Danú and Altan by respected Irish Music Magazine.
FullSet have received many awards since the release of their debut album “Notes At Liberty”. In 2012 the group were honored to receive the “Best New Group Award” from the well respected Irish American News as well as “Best Newcomer” in Bill Margeson’s Live Ireland Awards. They have spent the past two years touring across Europe and North America and during this time they have shared the stage with some of the biggest names in folk and world music including Moya Brennan, Fred Morrison, Lúnasa, Carlos Núnez, Andy Irvine, Donal Lunny and Beoga. FullSet’s latest album, “Notes After Dark”, has also received much critical acclaim and has been described by tradconnect.com as “one of the year’s best albums”.
