A Taste of Ireland’s ‘Fierce Passion’

With St. Patrick’s Day approaching on Monday, this weekend will be an occasion for wearin’ the green, lifting a few pints with friends and claiming ancestry, however dubious, with the Emerald Isle. Not surprising, given that one in six Americans can trace their ancestry to Ireland.

Beyond the green beer and leprechauns, the high points in the numerous celebrations taking place around the Southland will be the music. Jigs, ballads and reels will be heard in abundance, as will the sound of the wooden flute, the harp, the uilleann pipes and the bodhran frame drum. Irish music is as rich and diverse, as filled with emotional range and rhythmic passion as any music in the world.

“To the Irish, music has always been an expression of inner freedom for an oppressed people,” says singer Mairead Sullivan, who performs in one of the weekend’s prime events, the Irish Center of Los Angeles’ big, effervescent party on Saturday in the Stadium Club at Dodger Stadium.

“When the Catholic Church, first, and the English, later, invaded Ireland,” she continues, “music was the one part of the free expression of their culture that they were allowed to keep. And they did so with a fierce passion.”

There will be plenty of opportunities to experience the “fierce passion” of that music, in all its spirited glory, in the next few days. Here’s a selection of events:

Today

Paddy Noonan’s Musical Taste of Ireland, with music, comedy and championship step dancing, Downey Theatre, 8435 Firestone Blvd., Downey, 8 p.m. (310) 861-8211.

Friday

Young Dubliners, Ventura Concert Theatre, Ventura, 8 p.m., (805) 648-1936.

Saturday

Irish Center of Southern California’s Third Annual St. Patrick’s Day Celebration, with Mairead Sullivan, Des Regan, bagpipe music and step dancing, Stadium Club at Dodger Stadium, 7:30 p.m. (818) 238-0445.

Third Annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Festival, Hermosa Beach. Starts at 9 a.m. on Hermosa Avenue between Pier Avenue and 14th Street. (310) 374-1365.

Young Dubliners, Galaxy Concert Theatre, 8 p.m. (714) 957-1133.

Cassidy Brothers, Orange Coast College, 8 p.m. (714) 432-5880.

Kiltartan Road sings a collection of songs with words by the poet W.B. Yeats. El Camino Center for the Arts, Marsee Auditorium, Torrance. 8 p.m. (800) 832-ARTS.

Sunday

The Mollys offer Irish tunes with salsa rhythms at UC Riverside in a St. Patrick’s Day celebration with an Irish sing-along, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., (909) 682-3621.

Eighth Annual St. Patrick’s Day Celebration of Irish Culture. Des Regan, the Fenians, Tinkers’ Own, Atlantic Crossing and Ceili House Band at the Brothers of St. Patrick, 7820 Bolsa Ave., Midway City. 10 a.m. (714) 897-8181.

Finn Mac Cool at the Raven Playhouse, 5233 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, 3:30 p.m. (213) 462-6844, and at Club Sirius, 8771 W. Pico Blvd., 9 p.m.

Sheer Pandemonium’s eclectic mix of traditional songs on unconventional instruments, Carpenter Performing Arts Center, Long Beach, 2 p.m. (310) 985-7000.

Monday

Paddy Noonan’s Musical Taste of Ireland, Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 8 p.m. (805) 449-ARTS.

Young Dubliners, House of Blues, West Hollywood, 8 p.m., (213) 650-1451.

Gold Ring, Ash Grove, Santa Monica, 6:30 p.m., (310) 656-8501.

March 20

Chieftains, Orange County Performing Arts Center, 8 p.m. (714) 556-2787.

March 21

Chieftains, Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 8 p.m. (805) 583-8700.