Árd Ghaisce na mBuíonta (the Great Céilí Band Challenge) took the town of Ennis by storm. It was the start of an exciting new and innovative development in Irish music and for those who were not there, the good news is that it is to be repeated, with even more bands this year, for the 2009 Festival.

It will take place on Saturday 7th November from 7pm in The West County Hotel, with fear-an-tí for the night, Brendan Begley. Céilí Bands have justly and long held a proud place in Irish music on account of the strong disciplined and finely arranged performances that they deliver to lift hoards of eager dancers and listeners feet alike all around the world. A good céilí band should through its inspiration “drive you through the roof rather than stick you to the floor”, as they say around Kilfenora. Historically the Céilí Band was the only real showcase opportunity for ensemble group playing of dance music on stage and pre-cursored and helped spawn everything from the showbands era to the development of the many great Irish music bands from the 70’s onwards.

John Rynne, the event organiser explained that this will be a sporting opportunity for ten of the best Céilí Bands in Ireland today to compete for a first prize of €5,000 and in a public setting designed to test their mettle against each other in carefully chosen conditions of fairness and impartiality.

Such is the interest shown by again this year that 10 bands from all over Ireland have already agreed to perform and compete in what will surely become a nationally coveted annual trophy. Second and Third prize winning bands will receive €2,000 and €1,000 each with fourth place receiving 500 euros “petrol money”. The competition is set up in such a way to ensure that the battle of bands will be hotly and vigorously contested. Most of the bands have competed, toured and performed at all the highest level events at home and abroad.

The Bands who will be performing and competing are as follows:

Inis Craggy Céilí Band
Triogue
The Corofin Céilí Band
The Midlanders
The Awbeg Céilí Band
Ceolteoirí na Mainistreach
Ceolteoirí Nama
Oranmore Céilí Band
Banna Cheoil CCE Timpeall an Ghleantáin
Listowel CCE.

Céilí bands often had to wear several hats in the past, playing waltzes, two-steps and quicksteps along with regular Irish dance music for ballroom, step and set dancing; fusing the modern and the traditional. Many “togged” out with saxophone or double basses in addition to flutes, fiddles and the usual instruments associated with the genre. County Clare has a particularly noted record of producing fine bands, which makes it an ideal location for a high level competition.

This year again we will have four experienced adjudicators to independently assess each band and the audience will cast their own ballot with their preferences. The band with the most audience first preferences will be deemed the audience’s first placed band, the second highest number of first preferences will be their second choice and so on. The audience will, in that way form a 5th adjudicator, en masse. In addition there will be a handicap system to level out perceived bias that might otherwise unfairly benefit Clare based bands. This competition is a bold and open new way of testing bands’ performance abilities, and is sure to attract a large number of willing pencil-wielding punters eager to have their opinion counted. The 4 individual adjudicators will uniquely not see the bands but will hear them from behind a screen and will have bands identified to them by numbers only, to ensure a great degree of fairness. An equalising weighting system will then be applied to each of the 5 adjudications and the totals will decide the winners.

The organisers expect that this system will encourage accomplished and new bands alike to participate fully in the event annually. The €15 entry ticket doubles as a voting ballot paper and guarantees a vibrant night of the most accomplished level of Céilí band music. Tickets are available on the door and the public is advised to attend early, as late comers cannot vote unless they have heard all of the bands perform.

All Prizes are sponsored by Ennis Trad Festival, Guinness, The Arts Council, Ennis Town Council and The Ennis Vintners.

So folks, be sure to be there on time, with your voting paper in hand ready for the Great Céilí Band Challenge.

A Free Festival Shuttle Bus will go from West County Hotel to Ennis town centre and on to the Auburn Lodge Hotel from 10.30 pm for those who want to continue their enjoyment of the festival activities.

"We are the Ceolteoirí Nama/M50 ceili band. M50 because we play straight and fast with no twists or turns! We got together because with the recession we couldn't afford to go out drinking so had to stay in and play tunes at home. Hence we decided to enter a band...and.....IF we win the money we are going to give the money back to the banks to help their plight. AND we don't want anyone to take us too seriously!!!! "

The Rules 

Back