If one can find an open country pub these days in Ireland or make the one or two pints that you are allowed hold up to discuss all of Ireland’s problems at present, you could chat away from day to night. 

With NAMA, Lisbon and the recession and politics consuming the public debate, it would be a very heavy discussion all together. Throw into the mix of opinions from the Global Irish Forum in Dublin last month, and you would be looking for the bit of craic to lighten the mood a bit.

One of the more encouraging points to come out of the forum was from filmmaker Neil Jordan, who emphasized how important Irish cultural achievements were and how culture was keeping the best face on Ireland by producing quality work and financial rewards around the world.  

As the Irish get ready for another draconian budget later this year, dire consequences for arts and culture are in store if the recommended cutbacks suggested by the McCarthy review (also referred to as the Snip report) are implemented, thus eliminating many supports for the Arts Council and Gaelthacht in particular. 

The Arts Council maintains that its €75 million budget for 2009 (one euro for every household) helps produce cultural tourism and entertainment worth around €5 billion a year as an industry that shouldn’t be overlooked. Just because we refer to it as having the craic, doesn’t mean it isn’t enormously productive.

When I was in Ireland last month I saw two brilliant illustrations of that along Ireland’s west coast in Mayo and Galway.

The stark, raw beauty of Connemara doesn’t need much more incentive to lure you to its rugged seascapes, mountains and valleys, but the rich cultural heritage it fosters is a bonus. 

The multi-faceted Clifden Arts Week is a 10-day multi-faceted festival that would make a destination in itself for the North Connemara region, and it had extended its second invitation to Joanie Madden and Cherish the Ladies to perform there. 

I don’t need much of an excuse to visit that part of the world, so I along with 350 others crammed into the Station House Hotel for a 10 p.m. show. Space, not price (€20 admission), unfortunately turned more people away as the star-studded concert proved good value for money for the 2 1/2 hour show.

In January it will be 25 years since the female troupe of CTL first went on stage, showcasing the distaff side of Irish American music as discovered by Dr. Mick Moloney. Since then they have become one of foremost Irish traditional music bands to ever come out of America, even though the current lineup of Roisin Dillon (Belfast), Kathleen Boyle (Glasgow), Michelle Burke (Cork) and Mirella Murray (Galway) hail from elsewhere, leaving New Yorkers Madden and Mary Coogan as the sole surviving founders of the band. 

In Clifden they were able to call on an extraordinary group of artists to join them on stage for the show, including the Kane Sisters (Liz and Yvonne) from up the road in Letterfrack, Don Stiffe, Laoise Kelly, Ringo McDonagh, Hughie Boyle and at the end Sharon Shannon, who had just been honored the day before with a civic reception in her native Co. Clare. 

Great humor and music flowed all night to the delight of the crowd, and even some fun at the expense of band leader Madden when local girl Murray (from Creggan, Letterfrack) was introduced as bringing her band on stage.

Weaving performers in and out with a varied mix of music from highly spirited to the sentimental, the show was a crowd-pleaser for sure and proved that people like to get out even on a weeknight to get away from their problems and to relish their Irish connections.

Like many a CTL show, great dancing would be an integral part of the evening. Reinforcements were there to aid the two stepdancing gents who were doing the three gig tour (Listowel, Clifden and Ardara), Dan Stacey (Stratford, Ontario) and Declan McHale (Birmingham, England). 

Conveniently touring nearby was another North American-based band called TREAD (more later on them) comprising percussive dancers Cara Butler from Long Island and the Ottawa Valley brother duo of Jon and Nathan Pilatzke, who joined them onstage along with local Connemara sean nos dancer Emma O’Sullivan. 

The mixed dance styles proved how much of a living and vibrant tradition it is going across the generations, with influences from everywhere and a new meaning to crossroads dancing.

Sprinkled among the large crowd that night were a number of family and friends of the CTL troupe. It included a large Madden family contingent led by Helen Madden, Joanie’s mother, marking the first time they had all been in Ireland together since the tragic death last year of the legendary Galway musician Joe Madden in November. 

Music and memories and close bonds can be powerful healers at times. When Joanie played a slow air, one of her own compositions, “Far From Home,” about the long distances and separation her mother faced after emigrating from Ireland to her new life in New York, it quieted the crowd who all had similar sentiments over families and loved ones gone abroad.  

But the celebration and welcome given to those who came back is also a treasure to behold, and it was that kind of pride and enjoyment that filled the Station House that late Tuesday evening as people were in no hurry to go home. 

Some of the Madden family and I shared the lovely home of fiddler Liz Kane overnight much later, sharing cups of tea while watching the video of “ From Shore to Shore” that I gave to Liz after the Catskills. In contrast to Joanie’s haunting air, we really weren’t far from home at all.

Festival organizer Brendan Flynn accurately described the show we all witnessed as the “music of what is happening now, and that festivals are celebrations of what we have to share.”

He is very right on both counts, and this was but a sampling of a more ambitious festival that was bringing people out of their homes and self-absorption. The Clifden Arts Festival (www.clifdenartsweek.ie) is one of many that are worthy of further attention and attendance.

Meanwhile, along the eastern shore of Clew Bay in the shadow of Croagh Patrick lies the tidy town of Westport, where music fans know is the home of Matt Molloy’s Pub. 

It is one of the must stops on any pilgrimage to Ireland in search of traditional music or in its Yard Bar, one of the places to see the finest performers in an intimate setting. 

Fortune favored me on the Monday that I was traveling from Donegal to Letterfrack because not only was there a show scheduled in the Yard Bar, but a chance to view a new performance group called TREAD that had some familiarity with me.

If you have seen the Chieftains perform over the past decade, you will be keenly aware that they are supported by a number of younger artists every year. Harpist Trina Marshall (from Co. Laois), Irish stepdancer and teacher Cara Butler from Mineola, Long Island, and Jon and Nathan Pilaztke from the Ottawa Valley in Canada have performed as part of their permanent touring group regularly.  

The chance to travel the world and perform with the Chieftains is, of course, a special opportunity, but it also served as a huge mentoring experience and, in the case, of Jon and Cara a romance that will be celebrated at their wedding in Ireland next year.  

Cara, Jon and Nathan did branch out with a percussive dance troupe called Stepcrew earlier, but decided to add another dimension with harper Marshall and guitarist Jef McLarnon from Canada in this new group TREAD a couple of years ago.

Flute player Molloy has been encouraging them in their music and dance work, and offered them the first opportunity to perform in his pub and last year to record a live CD there, where the Molloy family hospitality has been so helpful to them as artists and friends.

It is a great venue to hear Irish music, and surprisingly on a Monday evening it was packed with a number of international tourists who were steered to the right place to see some authentic roots music of a high caliber and some top-notch hoofing as well. 

CTL touring artists Dan Stacey joined his Ottawa Valley neighbors the Pilatzkes in dance, as did Declan McHale. Up from Letterfrack was fiddler Yvonne Kane for a tune or two. In house also was Gaelic singer Alyth McCormack from Scotland (now living in Ireland) who has toured with the Chieftains recently.

There was a special poignancy to the night as it had been the first anniversary of the passing of Genevieve Molloy, who looked after them so well in previous visits to Mayo and the pub. 
Jon Pilatzke dedicated one of the tunes from their CD “Josefin’s Waltz” in the show to her influence and presence among them still as they performed there that night.

The Celtic connection and crossover that the Chieftains initiated worldwide have worthy disciples in this band, and I was glad that I was able to see them on their own. If you have the chance to cross their paths so should you.