Strong relationship between Irish and American folk music

TWO years ago, Ralph McGarry approached “a number of arts and music organisations based in South Dublin County to form a committee that could come up with a Fringe programme”, according to Martin Moran of Alternative Entertainments.

Tallaght-based Alternative Entertainments Arts Group ran a gig on the night of January 21 as part of the Tradfest South Dublin Fringe Programme for the ‘Des Carty Sessions’ series of events for 2026.

It was a sold-out gig in The Old Courthouse, Rathcoole, featuring Niall Toner, Andrea Booth and The Niall Toner Band with support from Domhnaill Corrigan (Madra Caorach).

Alternative Entertainments has a history stretching back to the mid-80s of programming arts events, with a particular focus on traditional arts, in this area. Over the years they have staged the Tallaght Traditional Irish Music Seminar, The Des Carty Sessions, and numerous standalone music concerts and workshops.

The Des Carty Music School has been operating in the area since 1997. For all of these reasons, they were approached to play a part in this committee.

Having arranged a session trail in 2025 for TradFest, they extended that trail for the 2026 festival.

They also added the bluegrass and folk concert in the Old Courthouse, Rathcoole, as an additional Fringe concert for the festival.

To organise this gig, Martin remarks that they “had a look” at the existing programme for this festival and decided to develop an event that was slightly different from the rest of the programme.

“We wanted to keep it traditional and decided to explore the musical traditions of American bluegrass, folk, and country genres.”

Niall Toner has been a central figure in Irish bluegrass and roots music for over 50 years and has worked with AltEnts on many festivals and events since the 80s.

He felt like “the obvious choice for the kind of gig we had in mind”, according to Martin.

Domhnaill Corrigan is a young musician in his early 20s who has been a part of the Alternative Entertainments Youth Music Collective SubSounds, first as a participant and more recently as a mentor.

Domhnaill is a multi-instrumentalist and composer who is adept at interpreting traditional music from Ireland and America.

His set on the night served to “underline the strong relationship between Irish and American folk music”.

Martin reflects that they “enjoyed engaging with the local people in Rathcoole” when asked about his favourite part of the preparations, calling it “satisfying and engaging”.

One of the main challenges of preparation was ensuring the vocals were audible above the instruments, but they decided to solve it by performing without a PA and doing a fully unplugged concert in the main room in the Old Courthouse.

Alternative Entertainments has a busy 2026 ahead, with the SubSounds Youth Music Collective currently recording 3 albums’ worth of material that they have been writing since October 2025.

The first of these albums will be released in the Sugar Club on Leeson Street on April 11, and another album will be launched in Aras Chronain on May 23.

The Annual SubSounds Youth Music Festival, an outdoor one-day festival featuring performances from musicians all over Leinster, will take place in Tallaght on Saturday, July 11, and the Des Carty Sessions will continue throughout the year.

The gig was completely sold out, with 72 people in attendance.

Martin would like to thank the Old Courthouse Rathcoole and its committee, including Ita Keane and Sally Graver, Ralph McGarry, Mariead Murphy and Zaira from the South Dublin County Council events team, and the Niall Toner Band and Domhnail Corrigan for a successful performance.

Congratulations to all involved.