Donaghadee Summer Festival Ulster-Scots

“Our celebration of Donaghadee’s rich Ulster-Scot’s heritage showcases not only our cultural past but also the influence of the Ulster-Scots genre in todays, contemporary music scene.  The artists appearing highlight the various elements of the music and its influence as it made its journey from the highlands and the lowlands of Scotland, through the green fields of Ulster and onwards through all of Ireland to the shores of America and beyond. The music arrived in the songs and dance of the emigrants who left our shores many centuries ago, indeed it’s estimated that approximately 400,000 people left Ulster for a new life in North America alone.  The music and dance of the Ulster-Scots made its way across America, Australia and beyond, to cut a long story short a lot of today’s music has its roots in Ulster-Scots.

From fife and drums to fiddles and banjos, from community singing to singer-songwriters and the guitars, drums and bass of a modern rock band today’s celebration acknowledges that journey.

Starting with Donaghadee’s own Fife’s and Drums playing traditional instruments and some of the older tunes.

Next up is the Ladies of Donaghadee’s Community Choir to sing some songs highlighting our Ulster-Scots Heritage with a particular wee reference to Donaghadee.

The third act is a young man from Scotland who now lives in the Dee, Bryan Donoghue who’ll entertain us with a few of his own compositions.

The fourth act is a band who have played at a number of previous Ulster Scots events and indeed recently appeared at the Ards and North Down Culture Day.  The Broken String Band bring a bit of Bluegrass to the stage.

The final band, The Barrelhouse Dogs, will be showcasing contemporary, modern songs from Scotland, Ulster, Australia and America that highlight the influence Ulster-Scots genre has on todays music scene.  Their repertoire includes songs from The Fratellis to AC/DC, The Black Keys to the southern rock of ZZ Top with a few local tunes thrown in.

Our Ulster-Scots musical journey has something for everyone helping to celebrate our cultural past and our contemporary present.  Mark the date in your diary, Saturday, 19th August with events starting at 11.00am with the first act on stage at 2.00pm.

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