A fundraiser will be held for the son and granddaughter of a Co. Kerry couple living in Massachusetts at the Kerry Hall in Yonkers on Saturday, October 18. Tena and Jimmy Maunsell have five children, all living beside them in Medford, Massachusetts. The Maunsells, who have worked hard through the years to provide for their children, have a daughter who was born with cystic fibrosis and is currently rejecting a double lung transplant she received many years ago.

While mourning the death of Irish author Frank McCourt on Sunday, his friends and relations were consoled by the knowledge that -- although taken too soon -- McCourt had lived a rich life and had achieved every goal he had set himself.

On Monday, June 29, Rita Keane of Caherlistrane, County Galway passed away at age 86 in a Galway hospital. Before leaving this earth, however, the pair left a rich legacy for others to emulate and to keep the songs of Ireland inhabited by generations of singers who they touched with their own authentic voices and styles.

The Catskilll Mountains will once again ring melodically with the sound of Irish music as the 15th edition of the Catskills Irish Arts Week (CIAW) unfolds in all its abundance next week in the tiny hamlet of East Durham.

It is that time of the year again when I am very much in the New York state of mind as the days rapidly approach for another gathering of the trad music universe known as the Catskills Irish Arts Week (CIAW).

Irish Voice columnist Paul Keating takes you through the best Irish Trad events over the upcoming week that take place in the Northeast

On Memorial Day weekend, East Durham in the Catskill Mountains of New York is teeming with Irish and Irish Americans celebrating their Irish heritage at the town’s annual Irish Festival. But the Michael J. Quill Irish Cultural & Sports Centre and its supporters aim to sustain this vibrant, family-friendly, Irish roots celebration in East Durham all year round with their Irish Village project.

Every Memorial Day weekend in a little town in the Catskills called East Durham, an Irish style Woodstock takes place. The “Emerald Isle” of the popular New York vacation region is home to the annual East Durham Irish Festival, and this year, the festival’s 32nd, despite spots of rain and the cloudy economy, was as fun-filled and musical as ever.

A tribute to Paddy Reynolds, a fine musician and an even finer man.

Along comes the widely anticipated duet recording of the venerable Mike Rafferty and one of his favorite protégées, the younger Willie Kelly originally from the Bronx taking its title from that axiom the new broom, and we find ourselves again resting comfortably by the hearth listening to that fireside music, unhurried and time blissfully on our side.

Tonight is a special night for an Irish couple from New Jersey. Ed and Kathy Hansbury, who are not Irish dancers nor Irish dance teachers, are this years Gradam Award Winners of the World Irish Dance Championships.

Recently the Irish language station in Ireland, TG4, released the names of the annual winners of their prestigious Gradam Cheoil Awards now in their 12th year. As usual their panel of selectors in the know zoned in on some extraordinary talent in traditional Irish music today whose work exemplifies both the quality and spirit of Irish music that keeps it thriving where ever you find it. The announcement was made in the newly re-designed and constructed Wexford Opera House two weeks ago, where the actual award ceremony will take place in a live performance and presentation on Friday night, April 4 and in a delayed broadcast on TG4 on Easter Sunday, April 12 (www.

The more that I am around the traditional music scene, the more apparent that it is a very special community that thrives on equal measures of commitment and craic, especially in the New York area when it seems like any weekend can be a very good one to enjoy it. All generations gladly participate with one another in the living tradition celebrating the past, present and future all at once, and they don't need to wait until the St. Patrick's season to boast about their heritage.

OCCASIONALLY, I've touted the magnificently flourishing Irish music scene down in Baltimore, and maybe enticed some of you to sample it down there along with the crab cakes and beautifully revived Inner Harbor area.

Well this Friday night, we can save you the tolls on Route 95. If you make your way to Glucksman Ireland House at NYU, you can find three stalwarts of the "Ballmor" trad scene at the next Blarney Star Concert on May 11 at 9 p.

THE Irish have been raising hell on Manhattan's West Side for well over a century since that was where many of them landed or worked after emigrating from Ireland.

Even my own father first settled there from his native Co. Clare with his brother and sisters thanks to a sponsoring uncle who had an established cooperage business in Hell's Kitchen, as it was charmingly referred to before the current wave of gentrification attempts to whitewash the area.

We often focus on Michael Coleman as THE Sligo fiddler who had the most influence in New York City, but actually his contemporary the "Professor" James Morrison (1893-1947) from Riverstown, Co. Sligo taught more people to play the fiddle over the years. One of his last remaining fiddle students, Veronica McNamara, a well-known face to many New Jersey trad folks, will lead a night of musical history at the clubhouse of the Irish American Association of Northwest Jersey (www.

THE Weldon House headquarters of the Michael J. Quill Irish Cultural and Sports Center will soon be abuzz with the arrival of hundreds of traditional Irish music aficionados and students as the days of the Catskills Irish Arts Week (CIAW) draw nigh. The highly successful festival now in its 13th year in the hamlet of East Durham in upstate New York breathes new life into the area so desperately in need of it since jet planes started taking people to more and more distant destinations.

IT would be so easy to write a story about the bygone days and era of the Catskill Mountains and, in particular, the tiny hamlet of East Durham which is the heart of the Irish Catskills. The latest setback is the loss of one of the more popular resorts, the historic Fern Cliff House over the winter, when it was sold to a group that saw potential in it for a summer camp for Jewish youth.

While it is a crushing blow, there is still a resiliency that seems to permeate the region when July rolls around and the annual Catskills Irish Arts Week (July 15-21) is about to encamp in rustic community just 2 1/2 hours north of New York City and less than an hour south of Albany, New York's capital.

FOR 41 years the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. has found a most extraordinary way to celebrate the birth of America around the various Independence Day rituals that mark the July 4th holiday.

At week's end tragedy interrupted the otherwise sublime week in the Catskills when Boston accordion player and raconteur, Joe Joyce, "The People's Choice," suffered a massive heart attack and passed away on Sunday evening at nearby Albany General Hospital. In his early seventies, the colorful mainstay of Boston's Irish music scene going back to the Dudley Street Days (Read Susan Gudetis' important Boston history called See You at the Hall) had enjoyed himself along with his wife Karin and daughter Catherine, a fine young musician in her own right, at all the week's events until he took ill on Saturday.

New Yorkers had a chance to experience the truly one of a kind personality he had last month at Rory Dolan's when he performed with Catherine at the fundraiser for Annemarie Acosta's School of Music.

IT was a sun-drenched day in East Durham for the 17th annual Catskills Irish Traditional Music Festival, now firmly established as the Andy McGann Traditional Irish Music Festival last Saturday, July 21. It put the cap on another historic and extraordinary week for the Catskills Irish Arts Week (CIAW) which was too monumental to be evaluated in the too few hours since I emerged from the mountains. But the highlight of the week would be the focus on the New York fiddling legend Andy McGann on the weekend itself, lionizing the shy, humble but graceful genius who plied the New York dance halls, pubs and house parties for much of his 76 years.

AS the summer season approaches Labor Day and most of the outdoor Irish festivals have happened already save for some September events where usually the best weather awaits, I am looking back at some general notions about what makes some festivals tick. Spurred on by some debate out in the Midwest about the "rockification" of Irish festivals raised by the Irish American News trad music columnist Bill Margeson, it got me thinking about some trends that are out there shaping decisions made by respective committees.

You're seen this old codger complain about sound bleed from tent stage to tent stage, and maybe wondered if I should turn down the hearing aid in one ear and turn it up in the other depending of sound flow.

TULLA, Co. Clare - The sun was declining west of the Tulla town square where the gig rig was erected for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann in that East Clare bastion of traditional music and dance. CCE Director General Senator Labhras O'Murchu led a group of CCE officials in reviewing the welcoming parade led by the Tulla Pipe Band.

IT is worth another mention that two of Ireland's finest young musicians, Oisin Mac Diarmada and Louise Mulcahy, will be appearing as a tandem act this coming weekend on a brief two-stop tour. Both are All-Ireland champions, with Oisin winning the fiddle championship and Louise on flute and whistle. I believe she was the first woman to win the senior All-Ireland uilleann piping competition.

ONE of the more intriguing trends to come out of the "New Ireland" is a growing awareness that the small little island has had an impact far beyond it shores.

The diaspora was once forced from the Emerald Isle by hard times and lack of opportunity, but now it is the welcome beneficiary of the wealthy country that always appreciated the help from abroad when it was needed.

One conduit for that munificence is Culture Ireland, the arm of the Irish government given funds annually to underwrite artistic programs abroad utilizing Irish artists.

IT was an exceptional year for new releases up in East Durham during the Catskills Irish Arts Week (CIAW), proving that the traditional waters are running very deep in the wellspring these days. No less than eight new recordings for artists and groups and one book (containing a companion DVD) were celebrated for their contributions to the cause in the past year.

At this juncture we would like to mention some of the CDs and the book/DVD that vividly capture the essence of what makes the CIAW tick and add so much to the week and the months that follow as the publications traveled away from the hamlet with the students and artists.

YOU couldn't really fit many more people into the Shamrock House on the Thursday night of the Catskills Irish Arts Week in East Durham. Numbers won't really tell the story when traditional Irish music and the friendship and camaraderie that go with it combined to transform the historic old roadhouse into a living testament to the hold the music has over us at times.

We have gotten used to the Thursday evening ceili orchestrated by Billy McComiskey operating on another level each year, but this year would be hard to top no matter how long that custom continues.

THERE may be some readers who find it curious - or perhaps grassroots commercial overkill - when they find so much attention to serial CD launches in this column, but that certainly isn't the intention of your humble correspondent.

Rather, what it reflects is a very genuine support network of community members to celebrate the accomplishments of those who are keeping traditional music alive and vibrant among us and have always made their way from place to place in a common bond with localities and groups who appreciate it. And in particular there is always something very special taking place when it is the hometown that is marking the occasion, and that is worth mentioning here.

MOTHER Nature has been very cruel to the Gulf and Caribbean areas this hurricane season, and so very devastating in the short and long term for the people who live there.

Complaining about the damp weather that beset the ICONS Festival in Canton, Massachusetts this past weekend would pale in comparison, even though the itinerant event that has moved from June to August to September this year in an attempt to seek the perfect conditions that would allow the weekend event to properly exploit its many assets.

No doubt, the heavy rain on Friday night and its softer showers on Sunday sandwiched Saturday's day of comfortable reprieve dampened the attendance - and the grounds - for the ambitious festival and the bottom line.

WHILE no one would confuse the hamlet of East Durham with Nashville's Music City, there is no denying that it has become a mecca for traditional music not only in the summer but now in October as it hosts two gatherings for the traditionally inclined.

Coming up this Columbus Day weekend is the second annual Joe "Banjo" Burke Festival from October 10-13 in memory of the great Kilkenny banjo player and ballad singer who succumbed to Parkinson's disease and other ailments before his time back in 2003.

In an attempt to keep his legacy alive and provide some funding for medical research and the arts in the upstate Catskills area, this festival was launched a year ago by Joe's widow, Bridget Burke (bridget@joebanjoburke.

The death of an elderly Mayo man in Queens earlier this month has sparked a promise from Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin to ensure the Irish government does its best to keep in contact with elderly citizens living abroad.

Martin made the commitment during a phone call to New York activist Ciaran Staunton to see what could be done for older Irish who are often left alone.

The sad death of Mayoman Anthony Gallagher, 72, has raised the issue of elderly Irish living alone, and Martin has pledged to take action to support efforts to identify such people, said Staunton.

FATHER Cathal Gallagher, the Donegal-born priest who lost his South Dakota parish, and very nearly legal U.S. residence, over a recent well publicized immigration flap, has received a new offer - parishioners in New York's Catskills region have asked him to be come their parish priest.

The priest who won a deportation battle against U.S. authorities celebrated his first visit home since then by officiating at his niece's wedding at the weekend.

The body of a Co. Mayo man living in Queens was discovered in his apartment building on 42nd Street in Sunnyside on Thursday, December 11 after the superintendent of the building reported not seeing him in a few days.

Anthony "Tony" Gallagher's body lay dead in his own apartment for several days after what family believe was a heart attack.

A photo is a wonderful medium because it can tell a story in a thousand or ten thousand words depending on what proverb you adhere to and what kind of memories it unleashes. And photography’s ability to enhance other artistic endeavors allows for a greater appreciation by for the sympathetic and skillful lensmen who captures a certain place and time as a visual record of social importance. Traditional music feeds on such documentation of a broad community that cherishes both the roots and the preservation wherever it may be, but two of the most important are the Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy in