DeBarra’s Folk Club has been a home for live music now for 40 years. Located in the beautiful seaside town of Clonakilty, along the Wild Atlantic Way in West Cork, the venue has earned worldwide renown as one of the finest independent and grassroots music venues in Ireland. This weekend, Friday 25th August – Saturday 27th August, they host ‘DeBarra-Palooza’, a feast of FREE live music events, celebrating the venue’s 40 Year Anniversary
You would be hard pressed to find a venue in Ireland with a more genuine enthusiasm for first-rate music than the DeBarras Folk Club. ‘There’s Carnegie Hall, The Royal Albert, Sydney Opera House – and then there’s de Barra’s’, said Christy Moore. Christy is one of many well-known musicians who found the mellow, unassuming ambience of de Barra’s perfectly suited to their ambitions.
The instant one enters the pub, the musical ambience envelops. The wall, stage left, is covered in flutes, fiddles, bodhráns, pipes and saxophones. Unlike most rock cafes, these instruments have a very real history. The uileann pipes were played by a Tullamore piper at the Chicago World Fair in 1893. The mandolin criss-crossed Ireland for four years with Paddy Keenan and The Bothy Band. The fender jazz bass guitar belonged to the late Noel Redding, the former Jimi Hendrix bassist, and a celebrated resident of Clonakilty.
This weekend, everyone is invited to celebrate 40 years of this world class venue:
Friday evening sees a packed night of live music from ADT, Fir Beag, Windings, Naive Ted.
Saturday 26th August, it’s a DeBarras House Party, featuring The Céilí Allstars, the West Cork Ukulele Orchestra, Rawney, The Monks, The Kates, Christopher Luke, Donal Tupper, Dj Gustaff’s Garden Party, and some special mystery guests.
For decades DeBarras Traditional Irish session has been the corner stone of this renowned music house, Sunday 27th August DeBarras will host a joyous trad session welcoming back many of the musicians that have laid their hands and tunes on this session over all the years.
Ray Blackwell, manager at DeBarras Folk Club, says “DeBarras is very special place but of course much of that is due to its location. Clonakilty is a magnificent Community with DeBarras both figuratively and literally at its centre. Leonard Cohen said of his time spent in a zen buddhist monastery that ‘pebbles in a bag polish each other’, I think of that quote often when I think of Clonakilty, and it’s been a privilege and an honour for me and my family to serve this community for the last 4 decades. Hopefully we’ll continue to do so for a few more years yet!”
DeBarra-Palooza events are free to attend, no booking necessary.