O'Grady's Temple Bar Tradfest slot

Singer Noel O' Grady from Navan will be one of the headline acts in the 2012 Temple Bar TradFest in Dublin in January. Among the other headline acts are The Dubliners, Moya Brennan, Michael McGoldrick, and Frankie Gavin, and the Scurlogstown Olympiad Meath Beo groups. Noel, who commutes between Dublin and home in Navan, where his parents, Harry and Eileen live, is a four-time Oireachtas na Gaeilge winner for traditional singing in Irish. In the last year he has been invited to perform in Áras an Uachtarán, the National Concert Hall, Féile na Laoch celebration of Seán " Riada's 80th birthday, Berlin, and Russia where he represented James Joyce and Ireland at The Tolstoy International Festival. James Joyce had a wonderful, soft lyrical tenor voice of which, sadly, there are no known recordings. Noel's evocation of Joycean songs has been acclaimed internationally by Joycean scholars (www.noelogrady.com). He was a recent invitée to Vicar Street by Christy Moore as guest singer. As well as Joyce, Noel will interpret through song, poetry and story, the lives, works, loves and times of other Irish cultural luminaries such as WB Yeats, John B Keane, Seán O'Casey, Brendan Kennelly, Patrick Kavanagh, Thomas Moore, and Luke Kelly. Among the other 200 or so events, many of which are free and for all ages, are an evening with Peadar " Riada and Cór Chúil Aodha, and a gala benefit evening for The Pecker Dunne, hosted by author, actor and playwright, Mannix Flynn. Over 60,000 worldwide attended last year's festival. Early booking for events is advised. For full information and booking, check out www.templebartrad.com