Though the Temple Bar Trad is now in it’s fifth year, the festival is still not half as well known as it should be. Trad is something that seems to scare most Dubliners off; it’s often passed down through families, so unless your parents or grandparents have any links, it seems like trad remains a mystery to the uninitiated.
I met up with Sibeal, a young and accomplished Sean-nós dancer and musician, to talk Trad and get a better idea of the different festivals on throughout Ireland.
I don’t know the first thing about Trad. Being a filthy foreigner, I couldn’t tell you if Sean-nós is was an instrument, a person, or something else entirely. It is, I find out, a phrase that means “old style”. It’s a way of dancing (or singing) which is more expressive and informal than some of the more stricter forms of traditional Irish dancing, and is usually performed as a freeform solo dance. Each Sean-nós dancer has their own unique method – Sibeal’s mother and grandfather were both Sean-nós dancers, and she began by using some of her mother’s own steps, changing them to create her own style.
It makes little sense to describe the differences of Sean-nós dancing from the perhaps more well-known rigid Irish dance in English – Sean-nós dancing is imheánn (internal), while Irish stepdancing is all about the seachtrach (external). This would account for the high level of freedom of expression in Sean-nós dancing.
The point is that Sean-nós is not a miniature Riverdance aimed at American tourists wanting nothing more than to badly pour their own pint of Guinness. It’s not a show simply put on for tourists – the Sean-nós dancers and singers do it because it is fun.
I already know about the well-publicised Fleadh Cheoil which Sibeal has attended for years, so we talk about the relative merits of other trad festivals in Ireland. The Ennis Trad Festival and the Willie Clancy Festival in Clare are two of her favourites, and because both relatively small they are free of some of the crap which the hugely popular Fleadh Cheoil can get bogged down in.
Sibeal goes on to tell me about the workshops which she organises at the Temple Bar Trad. Finding out a bit about what else goes on at the festival it actually all sounds great: storytelling workshops, exciting trad pop/electronic fusion gigs, and a huge number of sessions and competitions all over Temple Bar. Venues include The New Theatre, the Button Factory, Temple Bar Hotel, Palace Hotel, and Christchurch Cathedral itself (which will be hosting a concert by the international success that is Clannad).
For more information on the Temple Bar Tradfest 2011, see http://www.templebartrad.com/
Words: Zoe Jellicoe
