Limavady's Danny Boy Festival has turned into a "country and western jamboree" and has very little to do with the legendary Irish song itself, a Limavady councillor has claimed.
Sinn Fein councillor Anne Brolly told her colleagues at a special council meeting on Tuesday night: “There’s very little to do with Danny Boy in it,” and that the world famous tune had “got lost somewhere in the middle.” She said the event included v
arious types of music including country and western and bluegrass and stated it had “very little to do with the type of festival we thought we were going to have.”
Colr. Brolly’s thoughts were shared by SDLP Coun. Michael Coyle who, while commending the efforts of festival committee members, agreed. He stated: “There is music in it alright but Danny Boy is lost in it.”
The Roe Valley festival takes place on the May bank holiday weekend, and kicks off on Thursday, May 1 until May 4.
It cost £32,000 to run the festival in 2007. Part of the cost was off set through sponsorship and income generated through ticket sales.
A quick run through this year’s draft program shows a line-up featuring a mixture of entertainment including golf and football tournaments and a number of country and traditional music acts. There are also a number of ‘Danny Boy’ events including heritage evenings, traditional poetry and an Ulster Scots evening.
Limavady Borough Council Director of Development Valerie Richmond said: “The focus of the event is on music and on ensuring that the history of Danny Boy continues to be promoted and associated with the Borough of Limavady.
We are pleased that the Danny Boy Festival is itself now becoming firmly established and complements our other extremely successful music festivals - the Jazz and Blues Festival and the Folk Festival.”
Ms Richmond said the committee worked hard to ensure there is a broad range of musical events available over the four-day period.
She said: “The main purpose of which is to have something which will appeal to all of our ratepayers and encourage visitors to the Borough.”
The festival has been popular with tourists, according to Ms Richmond, who said in 2007 visitors from as far away as Australia, England and Scotland attended.
Ms Richmond added: “It takes time to establish new events and more people are now aware that the Danny Boy Festival is one of the major festivals within the Borough and through this the story and history of Danny Boy will become more strongly associated with its true home of Limavady.”
The Danny Boy Festival celebrates Limavady's connection with the world famous 'Danny Boy' song. In 1851 a local school mistress, Jane Ross recorded the melody 'The Londonderry Air' as a blind fiddler, Jimmy McCurry, played it on the street. Limavady Borough Council chose 'Breathe the Danny Boy Air' to promote tourism to the area.
A council spokesperson added: “The Danny Boy Festival is an event for both tourists and locals with music as its theme and aims to cater for all musical tastes.”
