Originally recorded by Liam Devally, the song was made famous in the early 1960s when recorded by Sean O Se to an arrangement by Sean O Riada. From an original poem by Donal O Mullain in the early 20th century, the words have probably been amended (the reference to showjumping champion Eddie Macken in the [...]

TG4’s televised competiton for dancers of all ages, disciplines and codes, An Jig Gig, is returning for another season. In a nail-biting final last December, Irish Beats triumphed over World Champion Clodagh Roper, Celtic Roots, and The Mark Donnellan Memorial Team. The search for An Gig Jig Champion 2010 is now under [...]

THE Aenach or Assembly has its origin in pre-Christian Ireland. The earliest accounts relate to the Ard Fheis at Tara, also known as the Aenach, held at Samhann, the beginning of November. Later the assembly had a role in the inauguration of the Ui Neill kings, who ruled the northern part of Ireland. The Feiseanna [...]

This song was written by Jimmy McCarthy (b1956, Macroom, Co Cork) who also wrote No Frontiers for Mary Black. Other songs he penned include Missing You, Bright Blue Rose and Mystic Lipstick. It was the title track of Christy Moore’s 1984 album.
The author explained on Radio Eireann in February 2010 that he once worked as an apprentice [...]

Sean nos dancer Emma O’Sullivan hails from from Renvyle in Connemara. She took up sean nos dancing in 2005 while a business and marketing student at university in Galway and by 2009, at the age of 24, had won the All-Ireland Sean Nos Dancing title at Oireachtas na Samhna in Letterkenny.
She has danced in the United States, [...]

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 [...]

History of Celtic rock, or punk, from Fairport Convention to Horslips, Pogues, and Dropkick Murphys

Foinse, which closed last June with the loss of 10 jobs, has returned, as an insert in the Irish Independent daily newspaper, every Wednesday, starting November 18. A disagreement over grants from its main funder, Foras na Gaeilge, and falling advertising revenue led to the closure.
The newly revitalised Irish language newspaper will bring a fresh [...]

It has rang out at packed sports arena, been done to death by drunks at closing time,denounced as sectarian, balladed, rocked and punked.
Often mistaken as a folk song, The Fields of Athenry was actually written by Dublin songwriter Pete St John in the mid 1970s. It is set during the Great Famine which devestated Ireland [...]

Neck have a new album of songs based on the Granny link … Go to http://www.irishpost.ie/tabId/310/itemId/6655/Sticking-their-necks-out-for-music.aspx

Al Barr of the Dropkick Murphys interviewed as they prepare to tour …
Go to http://www.sfstation.com/al-barr-of-dropkick-murphys-a23331

Virginia-born Steve Earle established himself in country music and rock generally, with his 1986 album Guitar Town. Ten years and a spell in rehab later, he was living in Barna, west of Galway, writing songs and stories and contemplating a life without booze and heroin. It was during this sojourn that he wrote the slow [...]

Detailed interview with the man at the heart of the Pogues at http://blogs.pitch.com/wayward/2009/10/wayward_qa_interview_with_philip_chevron_the_pogues.php

In a rare American appearance, the Pogues still fill a venue with charged energy More at http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/uponsun/2009/10/concert_review_the_pogues_more.php

This is a tale of the unexpected insofar as nothing about it – except maybe the lyrics – conforms to the stereotype.
The song Danny Boy was written by an Englishman. Barrister Frederick Edward Wheaterly (1848 – 1929) wrote the lyrics in 1910. However his original air was so poor, the song was destined for obscurity.
It was [...]

There is only one Galway Bay – but there are two songs of that name. The first, known to many as The Old Galway Bay was written by-
Francis Fahy (1854-1935).
Born on September 29, 1854, into a family of 17, eight of whom survived. Francis Fahy’s father, Thomas, came from the Burren area and his mother [...]

Being Canadian lends a touch of the exotic to Enter the Haggis … More at TheUnion.Com

Dennis Casey is still the new guy in Flogging Molly. Interview at http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/music/entries/2009/09/26/acl_2009_preview_flogging_moll.html

This Vancouver-band of Yukon musicians is branching out … More at http://www.straight.com/article-258841/whiskeydicks-do-it-all-love-liquor

McAlpine’s Fusiliers is a lively, successful Australian Celtic Rock group … More at  http://www.myspace.com/mcalpinesfusiliers