This year Kenny Hadden and I were lucky to be able to attend the 2026 Cruinniú na bhFliúit in Baile Bhuirne, in the Muscraí Gaeltacht in South West Ireland.
The event focuses on providing a unique, relaxed environment for teaching and sharing the music of the traditional Irish flute with enthusiasts from all over the globe including Japan, Australia, Vancouver and the U.S., as well as from all over Europe, the U.K. and Ireland. This year we had a student from Uruguay and last year one from Chile.
The event name presents non-Irish Gaeilge speakers with spelling and pronunciation challenges. Phonetically ’Krinew na Vlut‘ should probably get you by; the name simply means The Flute Meeting.
The Cruinniú consistently features the finest Irish flute teachers and performers in the world. The festival is held during the second week of Easter each year (beginning the Wednesday after Easter Sunday). Participants come from near and far with many returning year after year. Hammy Hamilton, one of our guest tutors at the Edinburgh FluteFling this year, along with his wife Nóirín were the founders of the Cruinniú. Conal Ó Gráda and Siobhán ní Laocha joined the committee for the first Cruinniú in 2006.
It initially ran as a biennial event, so 2008 and 2010 were the next two dates, but it’s been annual since. Kenny was one of at least five people attending this year, including Hammy and Noirin, who attended the first event in 2006.
Kenny’s subsequent attendance at eight subsequent Cruinniú makes him a serious contender for a long service medal more importantly it says a lot about what he thinks of the event!
This picture shows the five tutors at the first Cruinniú in 2006. If you can find Kenny in a quiet, private moment and name them all I guarantee that he‘ll tell you a memorable, hilarious story about a discussion on the relative merits of each of their instruments that was had between two of the five tutors. FluteFling owes a significant debt of gratitude to the Cruinniú for providing the inspiration and model that led to the pilot FluteFling weekend in 2012.
This year’s Cruinniú featured three full days of workshops, concerts, showcase recitals, talks/presentations and, of course, sessions. The tutors were:
- Catherine McEvoy,
- Tara Bingham,
- Ciarán Somers,
- Sylvain Barou,
- Tommy Fitzharris &
- Dave Sheridan
This line up gave students access to a marvelous variety of music, playing styles and approaches to teaching.
In addition to the classes the afternoons are taken up with flute or ITM related presentations. This year we had:
- A Talk on Injury Prevention and Pain Management for Flute Players with Diane Richardson, physiotherapist & flute player (BSc AHS Phy Th. MIAPT, CORU Registered).
- A Singing Recital with Rosie McCarthy, Eibhlís Uí Thuama and Hammy Hamilton
- A talk on Fluting Memories, in conjunction with the Irish Traditional Music Archive featuring Mick O’Connor, Liam O’Connor & Iarlaith MacGabhann and a demonstration of Sean Nos dancing with delegates taking the floor with hilarious results.
The Showcase performance this year featured three outstanding young players.
- Caoilte Morrison from Dublin
- Mark Tomany from Tullycorbet in County Monaghan
- Nicole Ní Dhubhshláine from An Ghráig on the Dingle Peninsula
The future of Irish traditional flute playing is in safe hands!
This year’s concert performances featured the trio of Dylan Carlos (fiddle), Céin Sweeney (flute) & John McCartin (guitar). If your music collection doesn’t include these guys I’d suggest urgent remedial action is required!
Carlos Sweeney McCartin – Jigs – The Cran Man & The Flying Wheelchair
Their 2019 debut album “Carlos Sweeney McCartin” met with critical acclaim and is considered a modern classic in traditional music circles. Building on the success of their debut, the trio released their second album “The One After It” in 2024.
The sessions in the Abbey and the Mills provided tunes that stretched beyond most participants need for sleep or breakfast the next morning
I counted 45 flutes in the Abbey session on the Friday afternoon. I could still hear my classmate Olly, from Cornwall, playing his banjo for a couple of sets, on the other side of the room!
The Cruinniú always provides great craic, fantastic personalities, wonderful tunes, surprises and opportunities.
Otherwise, how else would you find yourself in the Cobblestone in Smithfield, Dublin on a Tuesday evening in the company of two flute players that Kenny hasn’t seen for 5 years and another 2 players also heading for the Cruinniú. The next surprise is one of the company singing Davy Steele’s song” The Muckle Horses” convinced it was from Lancashire.
Where and how else would you find this number of young players capable of performing a sizeable repertoire of traditional tunes and holding their own in the session AND – if that’s not exceptional enough what about the fact that all five of the young players, play left-handed! Providing places for young players and encouraging them has always been part of the Cruinniú’s ethos
This picture from 2012 shows Kenny outside the Mills Inn. It’s for you to decide what the image says about the views of the venue, and Kenny, on appropriate treatment of bodhrans. Mind you, it does have to be said the landlord plays the tenor banjo so absolutely anything is possible.
The 2026 Cruinniu ended in appropriate fashion with “The Fluter’s Ball”, commencing with an excellent buffet meal provided by the owner and staff of The Mills Inn, and brief solo musical performances by all 6 tutors with accompaniment by Eamon Murray of the band “Beoga” on bodhran, and a superb guitar player Caoilte Ó Cuanaigh. The photo below shows all 8 musicians on stage together towards the end of the evening.
A great big thank you to everyone involved in making the Cruinniú the success it is. The event has now achieved a worldwide reputation; its limited number of places sell out within hours of its launch each year. If you’re interested in attending it’s essential to keep an eye on the website for registration going live, usually in the early New Year link here: Cruinniú na bhFliúit – Annual festival celebrating the traditional Irish flute and its music
For those considering attending for the first time, here are some of the things you can expect:
- Classes are aimed at intermediate and advanced students and take place over three mornings, Thursday to Saturday. Class numbers are small, with a maximum of twelve students per class. Students get to experience the teaching styles of each teacher over the three days of the Cruinniú.
- Unlike other teaching festivals, classes aren’t graded. The organisers believe a student’s/musician’s holistic understanding of the tradition, and the wooden flute’s place in it, is of greater importance than technical ability. They’ve found over the years that every student takes something different from each class, regardless of their level. So, there’s no pressure to prove your ability on day one!
- While new tunes are of course taught at Cruinniú na bhFliúít, the emphasis is more on expanding the student’s awareness of how the music is played, broadening technical abilities, helping to enrich how you play the repertoire you already know. Many a tune, both old and new, are shared between students and teachers in the music sessions every evening.
