Celebrating Ireland in Story and Song at Westerly Library

WESTERLY – On Saturday, March 14th, at 1 pm, the Irish Coastal Club will be holding a performance titled “Celebrating Ireland in Story and Song” at Westerly Library. This is an all Irish program which embraces Irish history and culture in story and song.

Phil Edmonds, a native of Killaloe, Country Clare, Ireland, learned to play the tin whistle in a place where he says: “The backyard was the fields.” When he was 14 years old, his family immigrated to America and settled in South Providence where he still lives. Along with his tin whistle, Phil plays the button accordion with great warmth and spirit. In 2008, he wrote his first book, “Reconnecting with the Soul of Ireland’ about his family, memories of growing up in Killaloe, roaming the fields and hills, and finding the new Ireland alongside the old.

Both of Mary King’s parents are from Ireland and she was raised in that culture, taking Irish step dance lessons by age four and listening to her mother sing the songs of Donegal, where she was born. She often visits her two aunts in Ireland, Bridget-Mary and Madge (now 97), who told her the stories of their youth — from “doing battle with the hay” to the monthly fairs that travelled the countryside bringing everything one might need, from pots and pans to the “dentist” who pulled out the tooth that was ailing you with pliers. They often spoke of the hard work of living solely off the land, where everyone worked on their small farm, including the children — all with great humor. Mary keeps the tradition of Irish music alive with the Celtic harp and her fiddle.

Dan Lanier has performed throughout New England for many years as a singer and an instrumentalist, principally on stringed instruments. While employed in the education department of Mystic Seaport Museum, he developed a repertoire of 19th Century sailor songs and chanteys, a number of which have origins in the music of Ireland. He has composed many dance tunes, some of which have been published and recorded.

Please come and enjoy what promises to be an exciting musical performance. The Celtic soul is alive and well in the stories and songs you will hear, and your ears and eyes will smile.

Programs at the library are free, open to the public, and handicapped accessible.