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Become a Friend of the Fest by becoming a Patron

Join us as a patron of the Puerto Irish Music Fest and help us celebrate the vibrant culture and heritage of Irish music! Your support will contribute to an unforgettable experience filled with live performances, traditional dance, and community connection. Together, we can keep this beautiful tradition alive and thriving. Become part of our musical journey today!

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Please help us create a vibrant music festival in San Juan, Puerto Rico that uplifts the connections between the island and its Irish ties!

Yet there has been very little exploration of this shared heritage on the island. Jose E. Colón Ríos, a local Uilleann piper who studied a Master in Ethnomusicology at the University of Limerick (Ireland), has been unable to find a community of musicians who know or even are learning this music. All over the world - from Japan to Kathmandu to Oslo - Irish musicians gather at pubs and in kitchens for a traditional “session,” where they spontaneously play and share oral tradition repertoire that they have in common. No such gatherings occur regularly in San Juan or anywhere in Puerto Rico.

The Puerto Rico Irish Music Festival is the creation of three musician friends: piper José E. Colón Ríos, guitarist and singer Ivan Belvis-Navarro, both natives of Puerto Rico, and Kira Jewett, a Massachusetts resident and All-Ireland fiddle slow airs champion with ties to the people of the Island. Together we would like to create an annual long-weekend teaching festival that is accessible to local musicians - even those who are trying an instrument for the first time - as well as drawing tourists to the island who enjoy Irish music and want to share it and learn more in this setting. There will be concerts, classes and historical lectures, as well as many informal chances to gather.

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