Singer Dolores Keane (58) was banned from driving for four years and fined €300 for drunk-driving at Glenties District Court (June 28, 2012). The former De Danann singer is now on her third driving ban. The singer had admitted being nearly twice over the alcohol limit when driving outside the courthouse and less than 80m [...]

Singer Louis O’Carroll died on March 2, 2012, following a road acident in his native Kerry. The popular balladeer was walking to a friend’s house in his home town of Listowel when he was struck by a car but was not, apparently, badly hurt and told the woman driver he was fine and able to [...]

A song based on The Rocky Road to Dublin will be the official anthem of the Irish fans at this summer’s European Football Championships in Poland and the Ukraine.
The the lyrics to The Rocky Road to Poland were compiled from suggestions put forward by listeners to Ray D’Arcy’s Today FM Show. Their contributions were then [...]

Muiris O Rochain, one of the founders of the annual Willie Clancy Summer School in Co Clare, has died.
He was born in 1944 to publicans and shopkeepers Jim and Nora Rohan of John Street, Dingle, Co Kerry.  After qualifying as a teacher, he taught in Cahersiveen and Waterville where he also collected folklore from local [...]

Galway born flute player Mike Rafferty died on September 13, 2011, in New Jersey. He was 84. He had been in failing health for a year, his daughter Mary said.
Mike Rafferty hailed from a small farm in Ballinakill, East Galway region. He was taught the wooden flute by his father, who was nicknamed Barrel because [...]

Musician and artist Eamonn O’Doherty, best known for his large-scale public sculptures in Ireland, the US and Britain, was once manager of influential 60s folk group Sweeney’s Men.
He had been playing in clubs in Denmark in 1966 with Andy Irvine when the latter got a call from Joe Dolan to join him in Galway for [...]

Mick Moloney talked to Peter Browne about his days in the 1960s folk group The Johnstons on Radio Eireann’s The Rolling Wave programme on June 19, 2011. He started by talking about what it was like to be part of a group like The Johnstons.
“In the Sixties it was almost impossible for any of us [...]

Clare concertina player Noel Hill heads the list of recipients of the TG4 Gradam Ceoil (Traditional Music Awards) for 2011. Born and reared in Caherea in west Clare but now living in the Connemara Gaeltacht, Noel is widely regarded as one of the major figures in Irish music whose concerts and recordings have developed the [...]

Aoife Ní Bhriain, daughter of Dublin piper Mick O’Brien, has won the Seán Ó Riada traditional fiddle competition, broadcast live from Cork on Raidió na Gaeltachta. Martin Hayes helped judge the event via Skype from New York.
His fellow judges, Seán Keane of The Chieftains, and Liam O’ Connor, TG4 Young Musician of the Year 2002, [...]

Singer Paul Brady has been awarded the 2010 Tenco Prize for Songwriting. The prize has been awarded to a songwriter every year since 1974, with previous winners including such talent as Joni Mitchell, Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen.
The award was inspired by the Italian songwriter Luigi Tenco, who died in [...]

The Dubliners are getting their biggest crowds in years on a sell-out European tour – ironically because the band have seen their audiences swelled by the new wave of Irish emigrants.
“It’s been a shock to see so many of our best young people now trying to make a fist of it away from home,” says [...]

Ceoltóirí Chluain Tarbh, which survived the Clontarf Classac controversy in Dublin in 2008, goes from strength to strength. They were guests of Dublin Lord Mayor Gerry Breen at the Mansion House on October 29, 2010, where he unveiled the organisation’s new logo, and presented graduation certificates to CCT musicians.
The Lord Mayor expressed his gratitude and [...]

Galway accordionist Máirtín O’Connor was confirmed a master yesterday when NUI Galway awarded him an honorary degree.
The celebrated musician, who was accompanied by his parents, wife Sietske and family, struck up a few tunes on his accordion after the ceremony. Two of his three daughters, Ciara and Sinéad, played the [...]

Martin O’Grady, has given more than 400 young Irish musicians, artists and their teachers in the Bronx the free use of a house so they can excel in their area of interest – for free.
Martin, who is aged 79 and emigrated to New York from Co Roscommon in 1959, “saw a gap” [...]

Christy Moore’s ever popular song Lisdoonvarna, about the Co Clare music festival which ran from 1978 – 83, will feature in the new Penguin Book of Irish Verse. The song gently pokes fun at the event, which he visited each summer of its short life.
Clannad were playin’ “Harry’s Game”,
Christy was singin’ “Nancy Spain”.
Mary [...]

Renowned Donegal fiddler Dinny McLaughlin from Buncrana has been awarded the International Fund for Ireland’s Intergenerational Award. The award is for his contribution in passing on music and dancing traditions. It also recognises the fact that several Inishowen dancing and fiddle teachers have been instructed by Dinny.
“It was nice to know that the work you [...]

I’ve never been to Coolea in West Cork. But as the years roll by, I get a clearer picture of its landscape. I vividly recall RTE footage of Sean O Riada standing elegantly in his sittingroom, one hand resting on the piano, as tells us in his schoolroom manner about, say, Johnny Doherty and the [...]

Former Chieftains tin whistle player Sean Potts from Dublin has won a Lifetime Achievement Award in this year’s TG4 Traditional Music awards. Before helping to found The Chieftains in 1962 he was a member of Sean O Riada’s influential Ceoltoiri Cualann group.
He retired from The Chieftains in 1979. He has since served as chairman on [...]

Detailed Huffington Post interview with John Spillane, Cork singer

Broadcaster Ciaran Mac Mathuna’s contribution to Irish music was invaluable.