Traditional music maestro Donal Lunny hardly has a moment to himself at the minute. Barely had the curtain dropped on Wednsday night's sell- out National Concert Hall show than he was beating a path to Dublin Airport for a long-haul US tour.
Donal's manager, Ross Fitzsimmons, didn't have much time to spare either but managed to shed some light on their non-stop itinerary following the performance. Lunny and his band, Coolfin, top the bill at the prestigious World Of Music and Dance Festival (WOMAD to its friends) in Seattle next week. In fact, Lunney has landed the eminent job of master of ceremonies for the event's final day extravaganza which will see him take to the stage with Joan Baez, roots revialists Joan Armatrading and Armenian woodwind maestro Djavan Gaspargan. However WOMAD founder and world music innovator Peter Gabriel won't be attending. We can only presume that the former Genesis singer dug out some of his old recordings and slipped into a profound stupor midway through a 220-minute guitar solo.
After that, Coolfin are off to Chicago for a gig with reborn raggle taggle folksters Hothouse Flowers. And then the US tour proper starts. Phew - we felt tired just listening to the schedule. It's all the more impressive when you consider that Lunny recently finished producing the bulk of Mary Black's next album.
Also at Wedesday night's gig were chart-friendly accordionist Sharon Shannon who will accompany Donal on the first few US dates and folk musicians Maighread and Triona Ni Dhomnhnail, fresh from a recording stint at Bill Whelan's Fort Studio in Connacht. The three have been firm friends since working together on the sound track for the film version of Brian Friel's Dancing at Lughnasa.
Among the business figures in attendance were Standard Life managing director Alan Ashe and Suminumo Finance boss Shinichi Nishikiori who were accompanied by National Concert Hall director Judy Woodworth.