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Weekly Comment: Michael Flatley receives Lifetime Achievement Award

By Irish America Staff
December 4, 2015

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Riverdance and Lord of the Dance superstar Michael Flatley received a lifetime achievement award from Irish America magazine December 3 at the 30th annual Business 100 Awards Luncheon at the Metropolitan Club in Manhattan. Flatley, who is also a Golden Gloves-winning boxer and world-class flutist, received the award for his contributions to Irish dance, music, and cultural … [Read more...] about Weekly Comment: Michael Flatley receives Lifetime Achievement Award

The Celtic Heart
of North America

By John Kernaghan
December / January 2016

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For nine days in October, Cape Breton Island is home to a unique celebration of music and culture, with the finest of storytellers, musicians, and dancers from around the globe taking part in the festivities. John Kernaghan was there, awash in nostalgia. The estrangement ran for more than 45 years, but when a vagrant Irish heart landed on the shores of Cape Breton, love was … [Read more...] about The Celtic Heart
of North America

Joanie Madden: The Christmas Letter

By Mary Pat Kelly, Contributor

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A forgotten Irish song of emigration tells of a mother’s longing for her children who have gone so far away, is a big hit for Cherish the Ladies. Irish music was the soundtrack to life for Joanie Madden growing up in the Bronx, N.Y. back in the 1970s. Her father, Joe Madden, from Portumna in East Galway, was an All-Ireland accordion champion, who headed a popular … [Read more...] about Joanie Madden: The Christmas Letter

Kennedy Center Announces
2016 Irish Festival

By Adam Farley, Deputy Editor
October / November 2015

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Irish writers, musicians, singers, playwrights, actors, and dancers will converge in Washington, D.C.’s Foggy Bottom for a three-week Irish festival at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts next spring. “Ireland 100: Celebrating a Century of Irish Arts and Culture” will take place May 17 through June 5, coinciding with the centenary of the Easter Rising of 1916, … [Read more...] about Kennedy Center Announces
2016 Irish Festival

The Irish of Barbados (Photos)

Photos and Article by Sheena Jolley, Contributor
October / November 2015

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The descendants of Irish people sold into slavery in the 1600s live in a close-knit community beset by poverty and ill health. During the winter of 1636, a ship bearing a consignment of 61 men and women destined to be slaves on the plantations of Barbados slipped quietly out of Kinsale Harbor on Ireland’s rugged southern coast. By the time Captain Joseph West’s ship arrived in … [Read more...] about The Irish of Barbados (Photos)