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Eighteen months ago I was living in the suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia, wondering where on earth Oulu was and did I want to spend two years there. I did some digging and after a Google search found out the place had an Irish pub and, even better, an Irish Festival.
 Andy Irvine
How could there possibly be an Irish Festival two hours from the Arctic Circle I wondered, given that there are only 396 Irish nationals living in Finland?!
After reading the website I emailed Brent Cassidy, the driving force behind the festival. As it turned out there were a couple of Irish people living up here and a group of talented musicians playing Celtic music regularly. All of a sudden coming to a town just south of Lapland seemed a lot more inviting.
Don’t be fooled by the Union Jack in the corner of the flag, Australia is at least half Irish and I’ve had many a grand festival and St Patrick’s Day down under. I was sceptical however that a festival of this kind could work up here. I wasn’t sure the Finns would get with it. Then again, everyone loves the Irish. We’re always up for a bit of ‘craic’ and some good music.
As it turned out, the third Irish Festival of Oulu was a smashing success. The town was treated to a weekend of top class performances and anyone who bought a ticket got their money’s worth, to be sure.
The Sunday afternoon saw the amazing Andy Irvine strumming his mandolin and regaling us with tales of Dublin pubs and backpacking behind the Iron Curtain in the ‘70s. His virtuoso playing and smooth voice had an almost mesmerising effect on the crowd at Pohjankartano.
Talented and alluring young harpist Lily Neill wowed a number of audiences with her modern approach to this most traditional of instruments. She is currently studying at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki so fingers crossed we’ll see her in town again.
Grada, a group of young musicians scattered around the world who come together to play, began their current European tour at the festival. They sold out their Saturday night headlining gig at Uusi Seurahuone and rocked the place. A highlight was the impromptu Irish dancing display by teacher Mathew. He forgot his shoes and broke two toenails but still turned up gallantly for his 60 students on Sunday morning.
Puppeteer Miriam Lambert got a great reaction to her production of ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’. She had all the kids - and plenty of adults - roaring, laughing and shouting along. The show, her first as a solo performer, was high quality and great fun to watch.
My husband Dan and I organised pub quizzes Graali and Leskinen on Saturday afternoon. They were a good laugh and thanks to the Irish Ambassador and Jameson’s we were able to award some great prizes to people with a surprisingly good knowledge of the emerald isle.
I am happy and proud to be able to say I worked on the Irish Festival of Oulu. I hope it will be around in years to come and if you get a chance, make sure you go to something next year.
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