It was a reunion of sorts for President Catherine Connolly when she found herself among the traditional music fraternity at the launch of this year’s TradFest in Dublin.
“She’s one of our own,” said the broadcaster and musician Kieran Hanrahan, referencing the President doing a set dance during her presidential campaign.
Connolly made much of her love of traditional Irish music and dance during her candidacy, and the grá was reciprocated.
Many trad musicians backed her campaign, hosting Ceol for Connolly in Vicar Street three weeks before the election.
Among the acts taking part in that event were Madra Salach (Dirty Dog), the young trad band from Dublin who are part of a new wave of Irish artists grounded in the Irish ballad tradition. They participated in the TradFest launch at the GPO.
Connolly presented a lifetime achievement award to Peggy Seeger, the fabled singer, songwriter and folklorist and a member of the Seeger family, which has had an incalculable impact on the American folk scene.
Catherine Connolly with (from left) Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, Sharon Shannon, Peggy Seeger, and Sibéal and Róisín Ní Chasaide at the launch of the programme for TradFest 2026. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill
The President singled out Seeger’s 1971 track I’m Gonna Be an Engineer, a satirical song on the limited expectations that women confront in their professional lives.
“Peggy, your music, spanning seven decades, has been and remains an inspiration to all of us,” Connolly said.
“Your song I’m Gonna Be an Engineer captured in a lighthearted but profoundly impactful way the discrimination faced by women on every level.
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“I know that you have referred to this song as an albatross around your neck, and a song that you are repeatedly asked to sing, but it is a song worth endless repetition because of what it captures and how relevant it is, and I would like to say thank you.”
Seeger, a sprightly 90-year-old, is steeped in the transatlantic music tradition. She married the British singer-songwriter Ewan MacColl, whose songs have been covered by so many Irish artists that he is almost an adopted Irishman.
“Just one thing to say about that song: I never wanted to be an engineer.
“I have remade it for lawyers,” she said. “I make it for whatever profession you are in; you are going to the top, ladies.”
Seegar’s politics has been as prominent as her music all her life. She has been a strong critic of American foreign policy, along with being a lifelong feminist. She is not impressed with the Trump administration.
“The founding fathers of the United States said they wanted a republic rather than a democracy,” she said.
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“Otherwise, you would either have a criminal or an idiot – and we have a president that is all of those things. He doesn’t know how to run the country.
“I’m hoping the American people will find out how awful he is. He has a way of convincing that everything is fake. When climate change is a hoax, what do you do?”
A lifetime achievement award was also presented in absentia to the singer Seán Ó Sé.
Seeger will sing at the event Transatlantic Women on the night of January 24th in the National Stadium. She will be joined on stage by musician Sharon Shannon, singer Eleanor McEvoy, dancer Edwina Guckian and musician Natalie Ní Chasaide, among many others.
More than 600 artists will feature in the 2026 programme, with venues in central Dublin, Fingal, and the South Dublin County Council area.
As part of TradFest 2026, Féile Barney presents a three-day celebration of the life and career of Dubliners founding member Barney McKenna.