North Longford musician to feature in TG4 Christmas show

For 16 years the traditional music series Geantraí was the lynchpin of music programming on TG4 and after a decade long hiatus the series is back kicking off with ‘Geantraí na Nollag’.

Elaine is one of the foremost tenor banjo players of her generation. She is in high demand as an accomplished and much sought after performer and tutor.

She has taught at many events including The Willie Clancy Summer School and Scoil Eigse and has toured extensively in Ireland, Britain and North America.

Geantraí na Nollag, recorded in the iconic Campbell’s Tavern in Headford, will be presented by the new series presenter renowned musician Ciarán Ó Gealbháin and acclaimed singer and RTÉ Folk Award nominee 2022, Pauline Scanlon.

The show features the legendary Frankie Gavin and The Whileaways who will be accompanied by some of the finest local talent where ceol, craic and collaborations will make for perfect Christmas Night viewing.

In 2020, Elaine was chosen as one of 20 musicians for Trad Ireland’s 20/20 visionaries project and she recently recorded with fellow Longford banjo player, Angelina Carberry.

In February 2022, Elaine performed as part of a new project Ardán, alongside Sorcha Costello and Catherine McHugh.

Most recently, Elaine and Sorcha performed at the Return to London Town festival, The Patrick O’Keefe festival and featured on TG4 programmes Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy and Geantraí.

In July of this year, Elaine, who works in a special school for children with autism in Kilbarrack, featured on RTÉ Radio One’s ‘Céilí House - Carrying the Tunes’ with Kieran Hanrahan.

She outlined that her introduction to traditional music came when she learned the tin whistle from ‘an excellent teacher’ Maureen Macken. She learned to play the mandolin under the guidance of Padraig Lynch and Elaine was just 10 when Padraig told her mum that she ‘needed a banjo’.

Elaine said she received an Angelina Carberry CD when she was 11 and revealed, “I listen to Angelina a lot and she is by far the biggest influence on my music. In my early to mid teens, I was listening to and learning all her tunes.”

She said ‘lockdown’ was productive for her as she did a lot of playing and learned many new tunes.

You can watch Elaine on ‘Geantraí na Nollag’ on TG4 at 8.35pm on Christmas Day.