A Celtic Appalachian Celebration • Berkeley Mar 3

A hundred years after the 1916 Irish Rebellion, renowned folklorist and Irish music pioneer Dr. Mick Moloney has put together a compelling program of song, dance, and poetry to honor this pivotal historical moment. Performers will include Mick on fiddle, All Ireland accordion champion Billy McComiskey on button accordion, world dance champion Niall O’Leary, Athena Tergis on five-string fiddle, and several special guests. “A terrible beauty is born,” said William Butler Yeats in his poem “Easter 1916,” and the beauty of that music, dance, and poetry will be on full display at the Freight.

“A stunning crowd-pleaser.” – Paul Keating, IrishCentral.com
“A joyful and deeply absorbing celebration of Irish America’s musical routes.” – Daniel Neely, Irish Echo

Join us for A Celtic Appalachian Celebration at San Francisco’s Great Star Theatre on Friday, March 4, when legendary Irish musician, folklorist, and National Heritage Award-winner Mick Moloney will lead the great fiddler Athena Tergis of Riverdance, All Ireland champion button accordionist Billy McComiskey, world champion dancer Niall O’Leary, and special guests Erynn Marshall & Carl Jones on an extraordinary journey through the myriad musical and cultural linkages between Ireland and the Appalachian mountains.
Erynn Marshall (fiddle) & Carl Jones (singer & multi instrumentalist) are a renown husband and wife team based in Galax, Virginia. They possess immense knowledge about Appalachia’s musical traditions and play honest, straightforward American old-time music in a way that’s been described as both “smokey and sweet, like the finest aged whiskey.”
By bringing some of the world’s finest traditional Irish musicians and dancers together with kindred old time performers from the heart of Appalachia, Mick will weave an eye-opening and utterly entertaining story about music, dance, and culture. Audiences of all ages will revel in this story of our shared cultural past and will come away with a better understanding and appreciation of what makes the connection between Ireland and Appalachia special. Please join us for this remarkable evening!
A Celtic Appalachian Celebration features:
Mick Moloney
Athena Tergis
Billy McComiskey
Niall O’Leary
With special guests:
Erynn Marshall & Carl Jones