The Earagail festival in Co Donegal - aimed squarely at local audiences rather than tourists or 'arty types' - puts on a huge variety of events all over the county. Derek O'Connor looks at the hits - and highlights to come

On a grey summer's evening in Letterkenny town, it's fair to say that Mory Kante has brought the sunshine with him. The West African world-music superstar is making his Irish début at Letterkenny's An Grianán Theatre, and the capacity audience has taken to its feet, grooving merrily in the isles as Kante, 10 piece ensemble in tow, spins an intoxicating spell - one that threatens to raise the roof on at least half a dozen different occasions.

It's a glorious night, and pretty much everybody who's there knows it. It's also another triumph for the powers that be at the Earagail Arts Festival, who have scored a major coup by enticing living legend Kante - whose sleek, shiny brand of infectious Afro-funk has won him millions of admirers the world over - to the wilds of Donegal. The man, as his manager had pointed out earlier that day, doesn't play such "intimate" (in this case, a 350 seater) venues that often. As he experiences the unconditional love of Donegal natives left, right and centre, however, it's nice to think that he's enjoying himself. Heaven knows, we most certainly are.

Whichever way you look at it, getting to Co Donegal requires something of an effort. Then, once you actually get there, getting around Co Donegal isn't much of a picnic either. Vagaries of travel aside, there's an unmistakable, somewhat undefinable otherness to the north-west of the country that makes an event like the Earagail Festival so essential. This isn't an arts festival designed to milk a few quid from whatever passing tourist trade there is to be had, nor is it one to indulge the quasi-intellectual whims of the local cognoscenti. What Earagail does - and does so rather splendidly, upon occasion - is to bring cultural events of a dizzying variety to a corner of the nation oft-neglected in the grander, socio-political scheme of things, while also celebrating the rampant creativity inherent in its peoples. Rather importantly, it's also a hell of a lot of fun.

"Maybe what differentiates us from other festivals, and maybe why we tend not to register in the national consciousness," muses festival director Angela McLoughlin, "is that 14 years down the road, we're still primarily an event for local people. We're serving a real need in the area; we're using halls that can still do with the little bit of rental money we can provide, and that's incredibly important to us. If you look at other arts festivals, their programming might be seeking a more specific, highbrow audience.

"When it comes to any event in the festival, the core of that programming decision remains: 'Will it sell in Donegal?' We've had some wonderful offers from international companies, and we've had to turn them down, because it would have been too much of a hard-sell. In the end, it has to be relevant to the county, and to the people of the county. We're quite clear about that."

Not that this has meant that the average Earagail programme panders to notions of audience expectation; if anything, the urge to present work capable of connecting with that core population has meant pushing the envelope further in search of art capable of affecting on an utterly visceral level. Last year's major outdoor presentation, the remarkable Crying Baby, presented by Aboriginal theatre company Marrugeku, proved a major triumph, playing to packed houses in a specially created auditorium in the heart of a stunning forest location.

"It can be a bit precarious," says McLoughlin, "because the thing you have to remember when you're talking about Donegal is that, because of our geographical location and the infrastructure that you have to negotiate to get here, every show we do is going to cost more money to do. This means that staging something outdoors, for example, is always going to be a more ambitious project, because of the sheer physical nature that can entail.

"That means we can't do everything that we want, but on the occasions when it all comes together, it can be absolutely amazing."

Owing to funding difficulties - primarily the paucity of sponsorship forthcoming from the private sector - Earagail 2002 may at first seem like a somewhat pared-down affair. Look a tad closer, however, and the quality and diversity of work on display remains as eclectic as ever. Ristorante Immortale, presented by Germany's Floz Productions at An Grianán, proved the perfect festival opener, a delirious combination of maskwork, physical comedy and metaphorical discourse that effortlessly entranced audiences both young and old. Set in a Fawlty-esque restaurant at the end of the universe, an adept quintet of kinetic performers run, prance, leap, shimmy, shuffle and clown their way through a broad spectrum of human experience for a perfectly-paced 90 minutes, never dropping the ball once. A sterling example of fine European theatre that rarely makes it to these shores; a repeat outing for this gem (and a return visit from Floz, here making their Irish début) would be welcome indeed.

Another major presentation can be found spread across a trio of art spaces in Letterkenny and nearby Churchill - the Arts Centre, the Donegal Country Museum and the Glebe Gallery - an exhibition of Pre-Columbian Art, largely gathered from Peru and Northern Chile, consisting of textile, metal and ceramic works, complemented by a selection of key 20th-century British artworks displaying a distinctly pre-Columbian influence. Entitled Time Warps, this is inventive, inspiring curational juxtapositioning at play, offering the opportunity to sample the remarkable culture and craftwork of an intriguingly advanced 2,500 year-old civilisation alongside similarly intriguing creations by Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and Anthony Caro.

Then there's the unheralded triumphs in-between, the events that make the Earagail Festival the essential event that it is for the people of north-west Co Donegal; 1,000 people showing at the remote Carrackfinn Airport for a late-evening outdoor performance from British acrobatic theatre troupe Heir Of Insanity, followed by another thousand (largely rapt children) for a repeat performance the next afternoon in Letterkenny's Town Park; a packed house and rapturous response for contemporary dancer Ríonach Ní Néill at a small, infrequently used theatre space, Amharclann Ghaoth Dobhair, situated deep in the heart of the Donegal gaeltacht; a rare appearance in Dunlewey from a trio of the finest traditional musicians in the world today - Altan's Dermot Byrne, Dezi Donnelly and the incomparable Steve Cooney.

Earagail strives for that perfect meeting between artist, audience and location; something that, when it happens in this unique place, can be quite magical.

"There is a great spirit of co-operation here," says Donegal arts officer Traolach Ó'Fionnáin: "a wide network throughout the county. You just get on with it, you work together. We're too isolated not to do that. Without that network, the festival would just be a loosely connected - if even connected at all - series of events all over the place. By virtue of the fact that we have people working tirelessly with the arts here all year round - for little to no money - we have a standard of service to the public, the ones who go out and see the shows, that they can count on. Everyone mucks in, and everyone benefits in the end."

On that magical Monday night, as Mory Kante bids his final farewell to a crowd who very simply don't want to let him go, the lights rise in An Grianán's auditorium and one very satisfied audience floats merrily down the stairs, positively danced out.

"This is one of those moments," muses a delighted Angela McLoughlin, "one of those ones that make all the stress and hassle worthwhile." Elsewhere from the throng, a solitary voice of dissent pipes in: "It was a bit slick, wasn't it? And what was with that white suit he was wearing? Very Joe Dolan . . ." There always has to be a Dubliner knocking around somewhere.

Highlights this week include:

Lambchop: Kurt Wagner brings his transcendent country-soul revue to town, on the back of this year's delicately glorious Is A Woman album. Always a pleasure (An Grianán Theatre, Letterkenny, tonight, 8 p.m.)

Pádraic Ó Chonaire: Writer/performer Diarmuid de Faoite brings his Stuart Parker Award-winning portrait of the great Galwegian - a one man tour de force - on the road and to the islands (Ionad Teampall Chróine, Dungloe, tonight, 8.30 p.m., The Club, Tory Island, tomorrow, 10 p.m.)

Spittoon - All the West in One: An Edinburgh Festival smash, this affectionate spoof of classic cowboy movies (another Irish première for Earagail 2002) comes from Gavin Robinson (above), creator of the West End sensation Thunderbirds F.A.B. (Church Of Ireland Hall, Dunfanaghy, tomorrow, 8.30 p.m. - also at Ionad Teampall Chróine, Dungloe, Friday, 8.30 p.m. and An Grianán, Letterkenny, Saturday)

Desmond Dekker and the Aces: The first Irish visit in aeons from one of Jamaica's great showmen, celebrating his 60th birthday. Yes - chances are he'll be performing The Israelites and You Can Get It If You Really Want (An Grianán, Letterkenny, Friday, 8 p.m.)

Balor - A Dream of Freedom: Local favourites the Inishowen Carnival Group close the festival with their latest outdoor spectacular (Pobal Scoil Chloch Cheann Fhaola, Falcarragh, 10 p.m.)

• Festival box-office: 074-20777. Further information: 074-29186/

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