The Caribbean wasn’t the only place where famous pirates roamed!  St Patrick came to Ireland courtesy of Irish pirates who raided the English and Welsh coastal towns for plunder and slaves, monks in Irish and Scottish monasteries in the 9th century prayed for protection from the sea raiders from the north, Corsairs took slaves to North Africa from Ireland in the 16th century (including, according to legend, Richard Kirwan of Galway to whom is attributed the design of the Claddagh ring), English privateers such as Francis Drake (who kept a consort of viols on his ship for musical entertainment of an evening) had their connections with Ireland, and, of course, the West is very proud of our own ‘Pirate Queen’ Grainne Ní Mháille.  The Irish got in on the Caribbean act as well – one of the most infamous pirates of the Golden Age of Piracy was our own Ann Bonny, a Cork lass who became the right hand ‘man’ of Captain Calico Jack Rackham.

Galway Early Music Festival, May 17-20, 2007

Featuring:

- Red Priest: Pirates of the Baroque
- Canty: Prayers of Praise & Protection
- The Irish Consort: The Life & Times of Grace O’Malley
- Jeremy West, Jamie Savan (cornetts): Pieces of Eight!
- Matthew Halls & ConTempo: The Goldberg Variations

For further information please visit www.galwayearlymusic.com