Gentle lapping of oars
As a currach full of fish
Comes towards the shore
On a calm and golden sea
At eventide
In the Western Spring

Gigs coming up

Feb 3-10 Caribbean – Joanie Madden’s Folk ‘n’ Irish Cruise – all sorts of carry on!
Feb 17 CA, La Jolla – Passport to Worlds of Music Series – with The Máirtín de Cógáin Project
Feb 19 CA, San Diego – SDSU’s World Music Series – with the Gallowglass Collective
Feb 24 MN, St. Paul – Éigse CIM – Máirtín as MC
Mar 4-5 TX, Dallas NTIF – Gailfean – Máirtín also calling the céilí
Mar 16 TX, Horseshoe Bay – House Concert – with The Máirtín de Cógáin Project
Mar 17 TX, Austin – St. Patrick’s Day Festival – with The Máirtín de Cógáin Project
Mar 23 MS, Pass Christian – House Concert – with The Máirtín de Cógáin Project
Mar 24 MS, Jackson – CelticFest Mississippi – with The Máirtín de Cógáin Project
May 12-21 Bus Tour of Ireland – SOLD OUT
May 14 IRE, Mayo, Westport Matt Molloy’s Yard Bar – Máirtín and Don Penzien
May 19 NL, Belfast Sunflower Public House – Máirtín and Don Penzien
July 8-14 NC, Swannanoa – Celtic Week
Aug 19-26 Alaska – Joanie Madden’s Alaskan Adventure – all sorts of carry on!
Oct 19 – 21 TX, Midlothian – O’Flaherty Retreat – teaching set dancing
More or less info on all dates click here

Máirtín teaching weekly classes in San Diego

I’m working on songs for the bus tour

Here is a link to a YouTube channel I have set up with songs related to the bus tour of Ireland this May. We are going to Athlone, Roscommon, Mayo, Westport, Achill, Silgo, Donegal, Belfast, Meath, Malahide among other places, like. It’s a work in progress so check back often to see what’s new and if you have any suggestions please send me on a link to a youtube video to add to it. Click here to check it out.

From Cork with Love – the Limited edition reissue!

Just off the presses in time for the Joanie Madden Folk ‘n’ Irish Cruise we have issued a limited edition of the From Cork with Love CD & DVD in one beautiful package ‘The Double Take’. Check it out now and order your copy today by clicking here

I did a really cool gig with SDCOE

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​The San Diego County Office of Education Visual and Performing Arts Dept. They are putting together an online professional development module to help teachers up and down all of California (and to be made available to the entire planet!) using world music to help teach empathy in the classroom. Would you believe it, a great friend of mine, Jonathan Parker, who is Schools Programs Director with the Center for World Music put me right in the middle of it! I am pretty stoked (I live in California now) about it. Here is a photo of me with a group of 3rd graders near Poway, California filming our part of the project.

That’s all I can think of for now. I hope you are well and staying warm! Talk to you again soon.

A chairde Gael,

It’s been all go but here is the news or as much as I can remember…

Gigs coming up

Dec 10 CA, San Diego – Christmas house concert
Feb 3-10 Caribbean – Joanie Madden’s Folk ‘n’ Irish Cruise – Solo
Feb 24 MN, St. Paul – Éigse CIM – Máirtín as MC
Mar 3-5 TX, Dallas NTIF with Gailfean
Mar 23 MS, Pass Christian – House Concert- The Máirtín de Cógáin Project & Haley Richardson
Mar 24 MS, Jackson – CelticFest Mississippi – The Máirtín de Cógáin Project
May 12-21 Bus Tour of Ireland – SOLD OUT
May 14 IRE, Mayo, Westport Matt Molloy’s Yard Bar – The Máirtín de Cógáin Project
May 19 NL, Belfast Sunflower Public House – The Máirtín de Cógáin Project
July 8-14 NC, Swannanoa – Celtic Week – teaching
August 19-26 Alaska – Joanie Madden’s Alaskan Adventure Solo

BUS TOUR SOLD OUT

How are excited are we hear to tell you that the whole bus filled up within only a few weeks! It’s all systems go here. So quick did the seats get taken we haven’t been able to work on much else. There is a waiting list for this tour if you would like to be on it. Would you come if we had a bus going in 2019? Do let us know if you wish to be put on the ‘First to know’ list for the next tour of Ireland with Máirtín. Where in Ireland would like Máírtín to take you in 2019?

Things to be Thankful for…

2017 has been a great year and I can’t be thankful enough. A blessing of a second son, Finn, sharing the stage with The Chieftains, attaining American Citizenship, traveling around playing music renewing old friendships while making new ones, starting a Comhaltas Branch in San Diego and then finding the members here want to name it in honor of my Dad, Barry Cogan, getting to stay home alot with my other son Milo, living near the beach selling out a Bus Tour, having you as a reader and a fan of my music & storytelling. There is no end to the reasons that I might be thankful. How about you?

Lead benefits of Instagram

Well, I started on Instagram, you can follow me at @irishstoryteller
With the rapid rise in my Instagram followers a local Company here in San Diego MotifCables Contacted me and sponsored my headphone #cable. It nearly blew my head off with the quality sound. It can be a necklace too! They also fixed my Beats headphones which was supercool.
So, they have offered a discount to all my readers until the end of the year on www.motifcables.com use coupon code cork  (all lower case) for 15% off entire order.
#influencer #socialinfluencer

It’s been a long time in the making and I am so excited to tell you that I’m bringing a bus around Ireland again. I would love to have you with me if the time and travel suits you. The last few tours went to the very south, now we are headed to the very north, taking in Westmeath, Roscommon, Mayo, Sligo, Donegal, Derry, Antrim, Meath and Dublin. It’s going to be jam packed with singsongs and stories. A wonderful Balladeer and Banjo player, Danny McCarty from Dublin, will be driving for us this year. The tour will be 8 nights from May 13 to the 21 of 2018. Do have a look at the details on the website here – Travel with Máirtín

There are only 24 spaces for guests!

Hope you are keeping well and to talk to you about it soon.

Last time we had a few folks call just too late and it’s an awful feeling to disappoint people so much. Don’t be on the waiting list. Get in there first!! It will be a brilliant trip with you on the bus. 

Here is an exciting project I am delighted to be a part of. It is the brain child of fellow Corkoian Patsy O’Brien, living in exile himself these past years in St. Paul, Minnesota. This has the potential to be something more that just a book and a CD. This could be a unending adventure into education the youth of tomorrow about the patron saint of Ireland – The Boy Patrick. 

There is a Kickstarter campaign going with only a few days left. Check it out here! 

Here is a bit more about it. 

This project balances out the typical St Patrick’s Day shenanigans (plastic green hats and partying, fun as it all is) with an educational project that will educate, entertain, and represent authentic Irish culture responsibly, through a spoken narrative with musical accompaniment recounting the factual tales and adventurous exploits of the young Patrick, from his capture and enslavement as a young man, through his daring escape, and beyond, into his later return to Ireland as a missionary, where he expressed his full love of the Irish people. Little did we know, until we started researching the actual facts, that young Patrick’s life was a breathtaking adventure full of derring-do and a story ripe for the telling! 

The finished project will consist of a professionally recorded CD of spoken narrative and musical accompaniment, plus an illustrated text. The musicians on board include some of the industry’s top names from the global hit shows Riverdance and Celtic Woman, as well as some of the cream of the Irish America’s music community. Our goal with this project is to provide readers a solid introduction to: 

a) the authentic roots of an exclusively Irish yet globally recognizable cultural icon 

b) The traditional musical instruments of Ireland. We believe this project will provide so many who have an interest in their Irish heritage with a solid foundation on which to explore further. 

We have writer Therese Kunz, a seasoned playwright with over twenty years experience, working with us on the project’s narrative.
This publication, as well as being a perfect gift, is perfect for the classroom and we are excited about it being an integral part of how Irish culture will be understood and perceived by generations to come.

We have calculated a Kickstarter goal of $5000 to supplement additional funding from outside sources. This figure will ensure that we can both produce a high quality, professionally recorded book and CD package and also compensate all the participating artists appropriately. We will release the Book and CD on St Patrick’s Day 2018. By lending your support, you will be making the authentic roots of Irish culture a more integral part of a deepening of Irish-American heritage. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this – we really appreciate your support.

Be a patron of the arts, and as a thank you from us, have the arts delivered to your door. click here – kck.st/2lJyfPS – to watch the video and show your support

Hi gang, here is a new song I wrote called ‘The Princess of Queens’ the ballad of Pat Hoblin. The mighty Gabriel Donohue works his magic over the keys on this and brings a shine to simple melody. Hope you like it.