The rooms of the Galway Bay were carried by music on Wednesday as performers sang lilting ballads or strident rebel music on the second day of the Celtic Music Feis.

The annual music festival, celebrating Celtic music in all its varied forms, hosts bands who return year after year as well as performers who are making their first appearance here this year.

“It’s brilliant. Brilliant. We love coming here,” said Sean Daly of Sean Daly and the Shams. “Meeting different people, different cultures.”

Daly and the Shams sing a wide variety of songs written about the centuries-long struggle of the Irish people against the English government for their freedom, bouncing just in a few minutes from singing “Foggy Dew,” a classic song about the 1916 Easter Rising to more recent songs such as Roll of Honour, which sings about Irish hunger strikers who died while unlawfully imprisoned under Margeret Thatcher’s government. Daly and the band recently toured with the Irish Brigade, famous for composing many well-known rebel songs, Daly said.

“All the other musicians are so great and so friendly,” said Kathryn Rose, a folk singer performing during the feis for the first time. “It’s like a big old family reunion.”

Other crowd favorites, such as the Whiskeydicks and Coming up Threes, famous at the festival for their spirited battle of the band perfomances, will make appearances this year as well.

Rose said she was excited to perform in the same lineup, or even to share a stage, with famous names from the scene like Rory Makem or Hank Cramer. She was sitting in the pub on Wednesday afternoon, music wafting from the various stages ranges from sea shanties to classic ballads to the more modern.

“I was over the moon about the first set of the day,” Rose said, speaking of a set she played with Cramer, who’s played all 20 iterations of the feis since the beginning. “That was really special.”

More bands and artists will join the celebration, crescendoing on Saturday into Sunday. Tickets are still available at the door.

Contact Senior Reporter Michael S. Lockett at 757-621-1197 or mlockett@thedailyworld.com.

Michael S. Lockett / The Daily World Sean Daly and the Shams play at the 20th annual Celtic Music Feis at the Galway Bay Irish Pub in Ocean Shores on Oct. 18.

Michael S. Lockett / The Daily World Hank Cramer, who has performed at every iteration of the music festival, plays at the 20th annual Celtic Music Feis in Ocean Shores on Oct. 18.