2nd Causeway Dulcimer Festival |
Bushmills, Co. Antrim, Ulster |
2nd to 4th June - 2006 |
|
[Nat
Magee's copy of John Rea's Dulcimer] |
[Photo
by Rick Davis] |
      |
History
of the C D F |
In
2004, her studies in Cork completed, Christie
Burns  headed
home to America. Now Christie had run a very successful Hammered Dulcimer
Festival in Cork for three years but it would not have been possible
to organise her festival from the other side of the Atlantic, so it
looked like there would be no Hammered Dulcimer Festival in Ireland,
in 2005. |
Now
I had been thinking about running a Hammer Dulcimer festival in Antrim
for some time, in fact since my trip to the 1st Cork H D Fest in 2002.
I wanted to put together an event which would help to keep John Rea's
memory alive, so in 2003, I organised the Castle
Kitchen Concert in Glenarm Castle's old Kitchen. We had a great
night & I was delighted that four Hammered Dulcimer players played
that night. Two were relatives of John Rea, namely Nat Magee & William
Rea, plus Barry Carroll & his son Niall on Fiddle, oh yes, &
me. |
In
2003 I organised a weekend festival in Ballycastle, the Black Nun Fest,
to which I invited champion Hammered Dulcimer player Rick Davis over
to. Rick is from North Carolina and as many Scotch/Irish took their
Dulcimers to that region of America, it seemed natural that I should
choose Rick to bring that music home again. |
Then,
in 2004, came a call from Jenny
Coxon,
suggesting that I, as a former co-director of the Cork event, should
consider running a Hammered Dulcimer Festival somewhere in Ireland to
carry on the good work started by Christie. I had been reluctant to
start an event which might have conflicted with the Cork event, but
now that the Cork D F no longer existed, this gave me the opportunity
to start a Dulcimer Festival & keep John Rea's memory alive at the
same time, by running it in Co. Antrim. |
The
festival's name was important too for it needed to express the location
clearly, the instrument at its core, and express a link with its predecessor,
all at the same time & I felt that the name, Causeway Dulcimer Festival
did all that, especially as the initials were the same as those of the
Cork event. The Antrim location obviously ties us in with John Rea's
Co. Antrim home town of Glenarm, where incidentally, one or two events
will take place each year. |
The
next step was to put a team together, who could provide technical assistance
& H D expertise, plus moral support & encouragement as the project
developed, so the Board of Advisors came together. This now includes Christie
Burns (USA) director of the Cork Festivals, Jenny Coxon (England) of the 'Nonsuch' Dulcimer club in England, Rick Davis (USA) who performed with his
Dulcimer at my 'Black Nun Fest' last year, in Ballycastle, Barry Carroll (Dublin) probably Ireland's finest Dulcimer player, Jack Bethel (Scotland) of Setanta, Nat
Magee (Antrim) a relative of the late John Rea and Mary
Phelan (Donegal) who, like all the others, is a stalwart of
the Cork Festivals. |
The
Festival is also very fortunate to be able to call on local man Brian
Boyle, who is an excellent 'Sound Man'. |
So, in a nutshell, this new festival's aims are to: 1: carry on the work started by Christie Burns & her excellent 'Cork Dulcimer Festivals'. 2: help preserve the memory of Ireland's most famous Dulcimer player, John Rea. 3: promote North Antrim's fine Traditional Music, Song & Rhyme. |
For
more background information on the events leading up to the founding
of the Causeway Dulcimer Festival, you could check out the following: |
Cork
Dulcimer Fest: Where it all started |
Christie's
Thesis (PDF): on Dulcimers & Dulcimer players in Ireland |
Ireland
2003: Rick & Brandy's review of Cork
Dulcimer Fest, including photos |
Official
Gallery: Photographs of Cork Dulcimer Fest |
Adrian
Scanlan: Adrian' review of 1st C D F for Folkworld |
Irish
Music Magazine: Review of the 1st C D
F for the I M M, by Dick Glasgow |
Glenarm
Castle Kitchen Concert: Review of Dick Glasgow's 2003 forerunner
to the C D F |
Black
Nun Fest: Dick Glasgow's 2004 forerunner to the C D F which featured
Rick Davis on H D |
 |