TRAD
Siansa Gael-Linn
National Concert Hall, Dublin 7.30pm €12/€6
nch.ie
This annual competition has become a major lightning rod for emerging groups who know how to mix a strong repertoire with gutsy performance. Tonight’s finalists are drawn from across the country; now that fiddles have been tuned and bodhráns tweaked, it’s time for the start gun to fire. With a prize fund of €2,500 and the Gael Linn trophy up for grabs, you can expect the ante to be upped and pipes to be poised for combat. Let the games begin.
HIP-HOP
DJ Monk-One
Bernard Shaw, Dublin 7pm
facebook.com/thebernardshaw
Andrew Mason is Monk-One, the Brooklyn DJ and journalist who co-founded the Wax Poetics magazine. The title covers vintage funk, jazz, soul and r'n'b with indepth long reads and crate-digging detail like nothing else around. Aside from the mag, Mason also hosts The Underground Railroad Radio Show on WBAI, releases tracks on the Names You Can Trust label, and is one half of the Greenwood Rhythm Coalition production team. Support from Baz Hickey (Boogie An Domhain).
ART
Flowing Forms
National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin Until May 24
botanicgardens.ie
Printmaker Cliona Doyle is known for her etchings of plant and floral forms, so it makes sense that the National Botanic Gardens should invite her to respond to aspects of the natural world within and without its boundaries. She is joined by sculptor Ana Duncan (natural patterns and forms) and Des Fox, whose paintings are inspired by seed heads, floral buds and related shapes.
JAZZ
Paul Dunlea Big Band
Cork Opera House 8pm €30/€25
corkoperahouse.ie
Cork trombonist and impresario Dunlea and his big band provide the sumptuous backdrop for a grand parade of the city’s vocal talent, including Mick Flannery, Camille O’Sullivan, Cathal Coughlan, Niall McCabe, Laoise O’ Hanlon, John Spillane and Karen Underwood. The starry 18-piece band is drawn from the four corners of the island, including Belfast trumpeter Linley Hamilton and Dublin saxophonist Ciaran Wilde.
HISTORY
1916 Guided Tours
Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin, 11am-3pm (every half hour, 12.30pm as Gaeilge)
A day of family-friendly tours around the cemetery with loads of fighting talk about the events around 1916.
