The Delia Murphy Festival will remember and celebrate, through stories and song, Delia Murphy and Thomas Kiernan who contributed to the formation of Modern Ireland through music and diplomacy. Mayo, the birthplace of Delia Murphy, will come alive on 29 and 30 June 2013 when family, friends and fans from all over the world will come together for one fun-filled weekend festival, to listen to stories and sing along to the Queen of Connemara’s familiar songs. Stories will be told of Delia’s husband, Irish diplomat, T.J. Kiernan, who worked behind the scenes so that the President could re-discover his Irish heritage and those in Ireland could meet a man whose family had come from humble Irish roots to become President of the USA. The formal events of the Festival will involve an afternoon of story and history led by people who knew and/or have written books about Delia and T.J. Everyone is guaranteed to learn something new about the Ballad Queen, her diplomat husband and their friendship with one of the most celebrated American presidents of our time. In the evening Claremorris will erupt with song. Delia Murphy recorded over 80 songs and many of them will feature in the evening dinner concert with national and international musicians all singing Delia’s songs. There’ll be plenty of opportunity to sing along to songs that were heard on the radio and in concert all over the world: The Moonshiner, The Spinning Wheel, If I Were a Blackbird, Courtin’ in the Kitchen, The Boston Burglar, Three Lovely Lassies, Down by the Glenside, Bantry Girl Lament, Croppy Boy, What Will You Do Love? and the Connemara Cradle Song, to name just a few. The festivities will conclude late Sunday morning over an Irish breakfast gathering where Murphys, Kiernans and friends will connect to swap stories, plot family trees and hopefully uncover some skeletons, amusing anecdotes and long-lost cousins.
