Imagining Ireland - Friday 29 April 2016 Festival Hall

Imagining Ireland is a musical conversation between Ireland and England, through the songs of the last hundred years.

marked the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising. Michael D. Higgins, the Irish president, sat in the royal box

The artists were:

• Paul Brady “Nothing But The Same Old Story” 
• Martin Carthy Nothing Rhymed; “Row In The Town”
• Cathal Coughlan “All Things Bright and Beautiful”, “Pack of Lies”
• Barry Douglas
• Martin Hayes (fiddle) and Dennis Cahill (guitar)
• Andy Irvine “James Connolly”
• James Vincent McMorrow
• Lisa O’Neill - England Has My Man; Foggy Dew
• Cait O’Riordan Pogues numbers -  Dark Streets of London
• Kevin Rowland and Sean Read of Dexys Curragh of Kildare; My National Pride; “Carrickfergus”
• Camille O’Sullivan
• instrumental passages from classical pianist Barry Douglas

The evening ended with Dominic Behan’s stomping story of Irish construction workers, McAlpine’s Fusiliers & Foggy Dew

They were joined by a house band directed by 

• Kate St John
• featuring Roger Eno (piano)
• Calum MacColl and Neill MacColl - Tunnel Tigers
• Van drummer

The evening was hosted by writer and broadcaster John Kelly.