The four best traditional music gigs to go to this week

Saturday July 27th

Belfast Trad Festival
Various venues
A cacophony of concerts, masterclasses, workshops, talks and sessions can be enjoyed at this year's festival, with guests including Scottish piper, Finlay McDonald, Jarlath Henderson, Téada's Oisín MacDiarmada, local flute genius, Harry Bradley, Clare concertina player and former TG4 Young Traditional Musician of the year, Edel Fox. With venues like The Dirty Onion and The Cloth Ear, how can a festival go astray?

Wednesday July 31st

Michael Harding, Mossie Martin, John Blake and Ryan Sheridan
Farnham Arms Hotel, Cavan
NYAH Comhaltas host an evening in remembrance of writer, Dermot Healy. A rich mix of talking, storytelling and traditional music, with Martin on fiddle, Blake on guitar and dancer, Sheridan.

Friday August 2nd

Kevin Burke
St John's Theatre and Arts Centre, Listowel
Now here's a summer treat to savour: Kevin Burke is a sublime fiddle player, veteran of The Bothy Band, The Celtic Fiddle Festival and of a long time collaboration with Micheál Ó Domhnaill, not to mention his recent highly fruitful collaborations with Tim O'Brien and Cal Scott. Burke's languid personality bestows many riches on his playing: a feel for space, a kinship with the swing of a tune and a delight in the stories behind them. This is a rare chance to catch a true fiddle master in an intimate setting.

Muldoon's Picnic
Hawks Well Theatre, Sligo
What poet, Paul Muldoon calls an "omnium gatherum" of poetry, prose fiction and music hits the road tonight for a series of six dates across the country. Muldoon and Rogue Oliphant will be joined by poet, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Belfast writer Wendy Erskine, and Irish traditional singer and song collector Len Graham, as well as singer/songwriter Duke Special. This promises to be one picaresque journey.