At a Mná na hÉireann, France get-together on 28th pf September the attendees are expecting craic, music, dancing, banter, great food and drinks in the atrium of “Le Cirque,” a former 18th-century townhouse, opposite the Centre Pompidou, currently considered as one of Paris’s creative culinary addresses.
The Mná will be joined by a scintillating selection of “Fir” and the Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival will also be at the heart of the matter.
After writing her thesis on the Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival, Patricia Killeen, one of the Mná, founded the Franco-Irish Ball Association and organized several Lisdoonvarna-style events in Paris.
She continues to maintain and create strong ties between Paris, the City of Romance and Lisdoonvarna, the town of Love.
“We are delighted to link with the Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival for this Mná event and are grateful to third-generation matchmaker Willie Daly and Julie Carr, PR for the festival, who make keeping the contact possible and fun. Last year, with the sun splitting the stones in Lisdoonvarna, Carr arranged that I play a small role in singer Andy Cooney’s video “Looking for Love in Lisdoon”.
Apart from music, craic and Cupid’s bows flying, you never know what might happen in Lisdoon, another element that makes the festival so special!” Despite current challenges in Lisdoonvarna due to limited accommodation, the quirky festival continues to inspire. “I’m delighted that the magic of Lisdoon has gripped Paris again this year, and with Shauna Kelly Lefèvre, leader of Mná na hÉireann, France and the Mná, we’re gearing up for a terrific event!
The evening will open on a musical note with four members of the “Mná Ceol Collective” group, followed by native Corkonian, Liv Monaghan, who has top billing. One of the top jazz performers in Paris, and also a Mná member, Monaghan confided, “I am touched that Sandra Boeuf, Gráinne Dunleavy, Niamh Garvey and Emma Downes will open for me. The “Mná Ceol Collective” are fantastic singers and I’m sure the ambience will be terrific on the night”.
Monaghan pulls threads from jazz, soul, rock and romanticism to create an alternative, sometimes experimental, often poetic and always original sound. When she performs her rendition of Óró mo Bháidín in the on-the-pulse Parisian venue, it will surely pull on the heartstrings of the lucky persons present for the private concert.
After the 2019 “Paris-Lisdoonvarna dress” designed by Paris-based Korean fashion designer Kim Bernardin and the 2021-2022 dress designed by Irish couture designer Sean Byrne (currently working for Yves Saint Laurent in Paris), Monaghan will don the 2023 Paris-Lisdoonvarna dress, a stunning creation which will also act as a musical instrument! She “is a lover of the left-behind, of old things, of letter-notes and half-light ghosts, which get stitched or strung back up together to make something new.”
The multi-talented singer, who writes and composes, has also made a name as a talented costume designer. She recently worked with Joan Sheehy (“An Cailin Ciuin”), and has also worked in costume design on high-profile productions like “Riverdance” and for productions in many of Ireland’s esteemed theatres. She explained, “Fashion is such a part of living in Paris, and the tradition of the “Paris-Lisdoonvarna dress” is a wonderful opportunity for a Paris-based designer”. Willie Daly feels “Liv’s music, lyrics and voice would be a great attraction at any major Lisdoonvarna event. She unlocks a little door on people’s hearts to let the love in, and Sava Medan on bass is also mighty.”
Shauna is “thrilled to have this event to look forward to. When I set up Mná na hÉireann, France at the end of 2019 I never expected it would grow to have more than 300 members and so many dynamic subgroups in such a short time. The group was an absolute lifeline for many during Covid, which created an appetite to connect. We are apolitical and aim to stay connected and together under all skies, whether blue, grey or dark. Inclusiveness, networking and togetherness drive the shared goals of our Group. The diverse talents of the Mná in the group are amazing, we currently connect through our WhatsApp group, and I’m looking forward to launching our website shortly”.
Killeen added, “The Mná are a terrific group of women. I was lucky to have the encouragement of Mná member Clíona Ní Ríordáin, a literary specialist, author and professor at the Sorbonne, Paris 3, who encouraged me to document the 165-year-old Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking festival for my Master’s thesis. Róisín Dockery, another Mná member and Paris-based expert in fundraising was instrumental in helping me set up the Franco-Irish Ball Association. Daly believes there is currently a hunger in people for matchmaking that he has never witnessed before. The dating apps are great but I also find, especially since COVID, that people are more into going out dancing again and to meeting people in clubs or pubs. There seems to be a renaissance of people looking for romance in “real life” and giving their screens a break. I’ve also seen barmen up in “Corcoran’s Sacre Cœur” pub, reading Daly’s autobiography “The Last Matchmaker” maybe they’ll put some of his matchmaking tips to good use!
With the help of his nearly 170-year-old “love book”, passed down through generations, Daly has already helped well over 3,000 couples tie the knot and must to close to setting a Guinness World Record! Irish people in Paris interested in matchmaking could adhere to Daly’s methods, using similar forms to the ones he asks people looking for love to fill in, and creating a “love book” of Paris based love-seeking profiles. Daly is a very special, empathic person; he also speaks some French and I think he and his fourth-generation matchmaking daughter would be welcomed with open arms if they decided to come and ply their trade on the romantic boulevards of Paris.
In homage to Lisdoonvarna’s traditions, at the Paris event, the Mná and Fir will elect a Paris-based “Queen of the Burren” and “Mister Lisdoonvarna”, as was traditionally done at the “Last Chance Dance”, which closes the festival on the last weekend of every September. Killeen concluded “We hope we can entice Willie Daly and his daughter to come to Paris soon. He believes that “Love is waiting for everyone, it’s there just waiting to be found. When it is, it’s a lovely feeling.” Paris is a magical place and so is Lisdoonvarna, the alchemy between the two places could be fantastic.