Celtic Fusion - an international, yet very Irish festival

Ireland's biggest international Celtic music festival is about to take off in Castlewellan, Co Down. Dan Keenan previews a "Lisdoonvarna" of the North

The most significant of events have a habit of occurring in the unlikeliest of places. And so, in that tradition Castlewellan, Co Down, is set for Celtic Fusion 2003 - a jamboree of large-scale outdoor traditional music complete with fringe events and the obligatory pub sessions and workshops.

Celtic Fusion is both a daring tourism initiative and cold business move - a timely investment in the area's biggest industry. Given the difficulties Northern tourism has faced, visitors from home and abroad tend not to arrive by the thousand without some kind of attraction. For the past three years the British senior Open golf championship with Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Arnold Palmer provided the draw at Newcastle's famed Royal County Down links just four miles away.

With that gone, and realising that some form of sustainable replacement was needed, Celtic Fusion was dreamt up.

Last year's bold inaugural event was a qualified success. The weather was Mediterranean, but the crowd was a little on the thin side, although up to 5,000 were there when Paul Brady, the headline act, took to the stage after nearly 12 hours of Irish and international acts.

This year the council's cultural and economic development office is thinking big. The line-up is more extensive and events span four days in three towns across the county as well as at a marvellous natural arena in the beautiful Castlewellan Forest Park.

Allowing for the fact that the site is in the rain shadow of the Mourne mountains, the largest tent seen in Ireland is on order. Standing at 22 metres, covering 3,000 square metres and capable of covering 6,000 people from cloudbursts, organisers are taking Murphy's law seriously and covering all risks.

Inspiration for the event has been drawn from other festivals, though, interestingly, none in Ireland, where there has not been a traditional music event on this scale for years.

The Inter Celtic festival in Lorient, Brittany, has been a pull for 25 years. Another international Celtic extravaganza has just ended in the Outer Hebrides with thousands crowding Stornoway on the isle of Lewis. The same formula - with an Irish twist - is on offer now in Co Down. Given the nature of Northern divisions, it's been made quite clear that this is no nationalist-only affair.

While the flavour is unmistakably Irish, it's all-embracing. There's a vibrant input from Scotland, in addition to music from England, Quebec and the Basque region.

Solidly nationalist Castlewellan plays host, but so too does Ballynahinch, 14 miles away, where the red, white and blue bunting still flutters after the Twelfth. World champion Scots piper, Robert Watt should find it something of a home from home when he marked the festival's opening yesterday. Newcastle, the only established tourist venue of the three, also hosts fringe events.

The organisers, headed by Ms Sharon O'Connor, the council's director of culture and economic development, know that putting up a sign and hoping people turn up on the day belongs to marketing theory of a distant age.

The main event tomorrow features Sharon Shannon and Altan, with Shooglenifty from Scotland and La Bottine Souriante from Canada. Anchoring the event is Gino Lupari, front man with Four Men and a Dog. One of the biggest hits from last year was Dougie MacLean from Scotland. He wrote Caledonia, as every Woman's Heart CD owner will know. He said last time of Celtic Fusion: "Fantastic atmosphere and experience - ask me back." They have. See www.celticfusion.co.uk, for more information and details on other fringe events.