Canada-Irish Cultural Exchange

Speaking of Ireland, I recently noticed that we’re swapping up-and-coming singer/songwriters.

Irish folk, on March 29, go see Sarah Harmer (she finally revised her site) at Whelan’s. For the non-Irish folks, Whelan’s is a great, historical small-music venue in Dublin (where I was introduced to the excellent Gemma Hayes). Sarah Harmer (as I’ve written about recently) is a great Canadian folk/rock singer (not dissimilar to Ms. Hayes, actually), who I’d highly recommend.

Domestically speaking, my Irish colleagues encourage me to go see County Kildare’s own Damien Rice at the Commodore Ballroom on March 30 (irritating opening act du jour–the Frames). MusicPlasma puts Rice close to Badly-Drawn Boy and Kathleen Edwards. I’m going to go check him out.

I note, thanks to Silverroad.org, that Ms. Harmer is playing the Commodore on May 9. Damn, I’m in South Africa. Ah well, it wouldn’t be quite as intimate as the CBC or HQ (now apparently called Spirit) in Dublin.