The Castlebar Song Contest was an annual international song contest that was first staged in 1966 in

Castlebar Castlebar () is the county town of County Mayo, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Developing around a 13th century castle of the de Barry family, de Barry family, from which the town got its name, the town now acts as a social and economic focal poi ...

County Mayo County Mayo (; ga, Contae Mhaigh Eo, meaning "Plain of the Taxus baccata, yew trees") is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Conn ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. The contest was initially organised by the Castlebar Chamber of Commerce as part of a drive to increase tourism to the town. It was hoped that the competition would produce a song that would make the town famous, just as songs such as '' The Rose of Tralee'', ''

Galway Bay Galway Bay (Irish: ''Loch Lurgain'' or ''Cuan na Gaillimhe'') is a bay on the west coast of Ireland, between County Galway in the province of Connacht to the north and the Burren in County Clare in the province of Munster to the south; Galwa ...

'', or '' Mary from Dungloe'' had done for their respective towns. The first contest had 70 entries from the UK and Ireland, and the final was hosted by

Gay Byrne Gabriel Mary "Gay" Byrne (5 August 1934 – 4 November 2019) was an Irish presenter and host of radio and television. His most notable role was first host of '' The Late Late Show'' over a 37-year period spanning 1962 until 1999. ''The Late Lat ...

. The winning song bore the Irish version of the town's name - Caisleán A' Bharraigh.

Information

After the first contest, the emphasis changed from finding a song named after the town to one of promoting the town through attracting composers, of various genres, from all over the world to the town. This strategy was successful and the town (and some of the neighbouring towns) were thronged with contest participants for the first week of October for the remainder of the contest's life. From humble beginnings with a mere £50 in prizes, the event grew in status to a point where its prize money at £20,000 was bettered only by the Yamaha Song Contest in Japan. In 1981, the future of the song contest became political when it was debated in

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( , ; ) is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature), which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann (the upper house).Article 15.1.2º of the Constitution of Ireland read ...

Broadcast

In 1970, the contest was recorded for television by

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

(the national television station) and transmitted on the following Sunday. The 1971 and 1973 contests were similarly recorded and shown later. However, the 1974 contest was broadcast live from the Old Royal Ballroom and Theatre and Travellers Friend Hotel in Castlebar nationally on

. Apart from 1987, when there was no contest, the event enjoyed live television coverage from 1974 until the event finished in 1988. James Haldane O'Hare was the TV Designer for

for the majority of the broadcasts

Winners

External links

Photo collection of Mayo Library

References

{{authority control Song contests Irish music Music festivals in Ireland Castlebar Recurring events disestablished in 1966 1966 establishments in Ireland 1988 disestablishments in Ireland Castlebar Song Contest winners