Siansa is one of the country’s most prestigious competitions for young traditional Irish music and singing groups. Group members taking part in Siansa must be over 12 and under 19 years of age on 1st January 2023. All guidelines, as well as the competition entry form, are available on www.gael-linn.ie/siansa.

This competition is organised by Gael Linn with support from RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta and Irish Music Magazine. Siansa provides a platform for talented teenage music groups who aim to emulate groups such as Téada, Altan and Danú, to name but a few. While Siansa is essentially a competition, the groups are helped and encouraged along the way by highly regarded traditional musicians. The event is run entirely through the medium of Irish.

There are three rounds in the competition. Groups must be registered by Friday, 28th October 2022 @ 5pm.

FIRST ROUND - Recordings of arrangement:

This will be a 10-12 recording of arrangement (please see guidelines on our website regarding this and the amhrán as Gaeilge). The MP3/Wav recordings must be submitted to Gael Linn no later than 5pm on Tuesday, 6th December 2022.

All recordings will be listened to by a recognised musician whose written critique will be forwarded to each group.

SECOND ROUND - Workshops:

Groups who progress through the first round will be announced in early January. They will attend a workshop on one day during February 2023 in one of four venues throughout the country. Every effort will be made to organise venues as central as possible for the participating groups. The workshops will be conducted entirely through Irish by well-known traditional musicians/singers who will offer help and advice to all the groups on various aspects of their performance (i.e. choice of tunes/song, arrangements, accompaniment, voice projection etc.)

Eight groups will be chosen from among the groups who have participated in the workshops to contest the final.

THIRD ROUND - The Final:

This will take place in the National Concert Hall, Dublin, on Sunday, 2nd April 2023. The Final will be broadcast live on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta and there will be a prize fund of €4,500.

For more information click the link below (www.gael-linn.ie/siansa) or contact competition administrator: Mairéad Ní Neachtain, [email protected] / 087 359 3957