Nollaig na mBan with Muireann Bradley and Mary Stokes Trio

Nollaig na mBan Festival invites you to a fabulous evening of blues music from the followed by rising star .

Mary Stokes and her exceptional band have been at the vanguard of Irish Blues music for several decades, with an international reputation as a powerful live act who have performed with greats such as BB King and Bo Diddley. The band's album 'Comin Home' (2021) was voted Independent Blues Album of the Year by the prestigious international Blues and Roots Radio. For Nollaig na mBan, Mary, her partner Brian Palm on harmonica and guitarist Sarah Michelle will perform as an acoustic trio.
On her participation, Mary says, "“I grew up in Dublin, part of a big family where Christmas was busy and full of excitement. We always marked ‘little Christmas’, Nollaig Na mBan, as an end to the season with a quieter celebration, the last of the ‘pud’ and Christmas cake shared, recognizing that “the Christmas” was over for that year and that the women could relax, have a cuppa and a bit of cake in peace as we awaited the start of Spring. This year, I look forward to celebrating Nollaig na mBan in my community by performing live with some of my band members in St. Columba’s Church, North Strand, Dublin."

Country blues prodigy Muireann Bradley from Ballybofey, Co. Donegal will play an exclusive set drawn from her debut album, I Kept These Old Blues.

Muireann rose to fame after she appeared on Jools' Annual Hootenanny on 31 December 2023 and recently played a headline gig in iconic Dublin venue, Vicar Street. She will join us for Nollaig na mBan to perform songs originally recorded by the great blues women and men from the 1920s onwards.

Of this annual celebration, Muireann says, "When I was child we usually went to my grandmother's for Christmas dinner; her house was full and she never sat down. But after Christmas on Nollaig na mBan she would declare it was her day off and she would go out with her sister and the women she grew up with. More often than not one of the group would host a party in their own house and I remember when I was about eight years old, it was my grandmother's turn and my mother brought me to the house. My grandad had wisely taken himself off and the kitchen was full of chattering and laughing women, my own grandmother being one of the loudest! It is a very happy memory for me."

Schedule

6:30pm: Doors open

7:00pm: The Mary Stokes Trio

8:00pm: Muireann Bradley

9:00pm: Ends

Nollaig na mBan Festival is kindly supported by Dublin City Council and the NEIC, Dublin Port, Inner City Trust and the North Inner City Community Safety Partnership.

Host or Publisher Nollaig na mBan - Dublin North East Inner City