Irish Cultural Tent 2024
One of the most important parts of the Buffalo Irish Festival is promoting Irish culture in all its forms and in the cultural tent all weekend you will have the chance to learn and experience authentic Irish culture from poetry and literature to Irish language, music, and dance!
The University of Buffalo houses the James Joyce Collection, an archive that comprises more than 10,000 pages of the
Irish author’s working papers, notebooks, photographs, correspondence, portraits, publishing records, important memorabilia, Joyce’s private library, and the complete body of significant Joyce criticism. The Collection distinguishes UB as the leading resource for Joyce scholarship. We will welcome James Maynard PhD, who will give a special presentation based on this internationally renowned James Joyce Collection.
This year in the Cultural Tent we bring back Kevin Conroy in the new Irish Language Show on Sunday, July 28th from Noon-1:00 PM. Kevin will talk about the history of the Irish language, where it started and more. Then he will talk about Irish poetry from 1:00-2::00 PM.” Guthanna ár Sinsear - Voices of our Ancestors”. Kevin Conroy will recite a selection of Irish poetry from Old Irish to Modern Irish, plusEnglish translations. Come hear about a medieval monk's mouse-catching cat, a poet using a dead bird as an excuse to drink more, a poet lamenting English customs spreading in Ireland,
a poet cursing his horse for dropping him in dung, an otherworldly vision of Ireland's sovereignty goddess lamenting the failure of the Jacobite cause, and much more. Kevin holds a Master’s degree in linguistics from Boston College, and received two Master’s degrees at the National University of Ireland, Galway, in Modern Irish and Language Planning. Kevin also taught Irish language at the University of Wisconsin before returning home to Western NY.
The Innisfree Adult Set Dancers (Comhaltas) and the Rince Na Tiarna (RNT) Adult Ceili Dancers will host a Ceili with live musicians in the Cultural Tent at the Buffalo Irish Festival. Traditional Set’s which are danced all around the world such as the Connemara Reel and Ceili dances such as the Walls of Limerick will be called. The Buffalo Irish Center is home to the Innisfree Set/Ceili adult dance group that practices every Thursday evening from 7:30 PM – 9:30PM with instruction offered. The RNT school, also housed in the Buffalo Irish Center offers adult Ceili dance classes as well as adult Irish step dance classes. For further information on adult dance classes please visit the Buffalo Irish Center website.
Learn Irish Dancing from dancers and teachers from Buffalo’s own Harris-Grieco School of Irish Dance!
Learn about resources for Irish genealogy and how to discover your own family’s Irish roots at the Buffalo Irish Genealogical Society's table.
Schedule
Saturday
1:00 Columban Sisters celebrate their 100th anniversary (short video)
3:00 Dr. James Maynard & Lauren Maynard James Joyce Collection
4:00 CEILI and Set Dancing Session
5:00 CEILI and Set Dancing Session
Sunday
12:00 Irish Language Show
1:00 Irish Poetry
2:00 Columban Sisters celebrate their 100th anniversary (short video)
3:30 Harris-Grieco dance academy workshop on Irish step dancing