Music lovers packed into the John Field Room of the National Concert Hall for the opening of the ESB Beo Celtic Music Festival series this week.
"There's always been a love of music in my family," said Maudie Campbell, whose grandfather was the Co Sligo musician, Laurence Mullaney. She and her husband, Robin, were both looking forward to hearing David Munnelly on accordion playing with Daire Bracken on fiddle and Mick Broderick on bouzouki.
Another lover of traditional music, Yoko Nozaki, a record distributor from Tokyo, said Munnelly is "very popular in Japan". His last album, By Heck, is especially loved because "it's completely different". Beside her sat mandolin and session player, Paul Kelly. Judy Woodworth, director of the National Concert Hall, was there to hear a selection of jigs and polkas.
Over four days, a range of musicians, singers and groups played at the festival in a National Concert Hall programme put together by Catherine Kirby. The line-up continues tonight with the Galician musician Carlos Núnez and his band and the Chieftains tomorrow night.
Gavin O'Sullivan, the house manager at the National Concert Hall, also dropped by on Wednesday, having been out with friends the night before to bid farewell to Conor O'Brien, the young violinist from Dalkey setting off on a one-year scholarship to the University of Minnesota. O'Brien, who has been playing with the National Symphony Orchestra , plans to complete a masters' degree in music performance there.