{"id":582396,"date":"2026-08-04T00:18:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T00:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/582396\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T00:18:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T00:18:12","slug":"fleadh-cheoil-na-heireann-2026-two-tribes-unite-for-belfast-festival-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/582396\/","title":{"rendered":"Fleadh Cheoil na h\u00c9ireann 2026: Two tribes unite for Belfast festival \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

There was standing room only in a windowless arts venue in Belfast where a neuroscientist recorded the brain activity of a harpist as she played a melody about trees.<\/p>\n

The audience was enrapt<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This was a lunchtime fringe event in the city\u2019s Cathedral Quarter on the second day of Fleadh Cheoil na h\u00c9ireann<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Playing the harp is a \u201cneurological feat\u201d, Dr Niamh Kennedy told us in a sweltering Black Box before she strapped on magnetic brain stimulators to musician Ursula Burns.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we can see here during Ursula\u2019s beautiful playing is that each of these squiggly lines represents a muscle, so you can see as she plays, her muscles are firing,\u201d said Kennedy, pointing to a screen.<\/p>\n

Outside on the cobbled streets \u2013 once a no-go area during the Troubles \u2013 crowds were four deep as children busked outside pubs and restaurants.<\/p>\n

Tourists posed for selfies under illuminated umbrellas on Commercial Court, an alleyway that has become one of the most photographed in the quarter.<\/p>\n

Food trucks, stalls and \u201csession spaces\u201d lined the length of Royal Avenue, the city\u2019s main thoroughfare, thronged with thousands of people by mid-afternoon.<\/p>\n

This is the first time Belfast has hosted the fleadh <\/a>and much of the city centre has become temporarily pedestrianised.<\/p>\n

More than 800,000 people are expected to attend the event <\/a>\u2013 double the number the last time the fleadh was in the North, when it was in Derry in 2013 \u2013 which will run until August 9th.<\/p>\n

Maurice Brown performed in the opening ceremony the previous evening with the Belfast Band Forum, an umbrella group for marching bands from the Protestant, unionist and loyalist communities.<\/p>\n

\"MauriceMaurice Brown of the Belfast Bands Forum: ‘What a time to be alive.’ <\/p>\n

While he was aware of some abuse on social media from \u201cnaysayers and keyboard warriors\u201d, Brown said it was important to be part of the fleadh to \u201cpromote my culture\u201d.<\/p>\n

The multicultural opening event \u2013 Dhol drummers and Indian dancers also took part \u2013 was \u201cincredible\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith my previous military background, I would have done major state occasions but that event last night \u2026 what a time to be alive,\u201d he said, beaming.<\/p>\n

\u201cHad you said six months ago \u2013 even though the plan was well under way \u2013 that a Northern Irish Protestant march band would take part in the opening of the fleadh, I don\u2019t even think Ards Comhaltas [the festival\u2019s host branch], with their best intentions in the world, could have foreseen that. For it to go down the way it did was truly amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown was at City Hall on Monday, where a main stage is the centre for headline acts and free concerts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to come today and have a wander with my family; I wanted to feel the atmosphere on the streets,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of people covered the manicured lawns outside City Hall where friends Conor Newland and Matthew Walsh carried their bazooka and banjo on their backs.<\/p>\n

Newland, from Limavady in Co Derry, met Walsh, a Dubliner, at a fleadh three years ago.<\/p>\n

They agreed the event is \u201cfor everyone\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cTwo of my friends I play trad with are Protestant; they understand. It\u2019s not one-sided. It\u2019s just Irish,\u201d Newland said.<\/p>\n

Walsh isn\u2019t familiar with the city and was still trying to find his bearings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t played yet today; we don\u2019t know where we\u2019re going. That\u2019s the beauty of it; we\u2019re going to walk around, find a corner and sit down and start playing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe met a few years ago and have played together since; that\u2019s really the ethos of the fleadh. The main stages are great, and there are loads of acts booked in, but we\u2019re looking forward to the sessions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LouiseLouise Meleady from Belfast is looking forward to a joint session between a Lambeg drummer and bodhr\u00e1n player. Photograph: Sean\u00edn Graham <\/p>\n

Halfway down Royal Avenue, Louise Meleady stood in a queue for another event. <\/p>\n

The musician from Belfast has her own school, Ceathr\u00fa cheoil na bhF\u00e1l, and is looking forward to a joint session tomorrow between a Lambeg drummer and bodhr\u00e1n player.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s important that we talk about our histories, how similar we are,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom when I was young we used to play for McPeakes [a traditional Irish music school in west Belfast]. We were brought to the fleadhs every year and you always got that buzz with the crowds.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was worried how it would work in Belfast, but literally when we came here yesterday morning, we couldn\u2019t believe it. We got the same feeling.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s happening, it\u2019s fantastic, the buzz is here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There was standing room only in a windowless arts venue in Belfast where a neuroscientist recorded the brain…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4501,93,26896,61,60],"class_list":["post-582396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-belfast","tag-entertainment","tag-fleadh-cheoil-na-heireann","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}