RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta marks 40 years on air this year, as does the Willie Clancy Summer School, and as part of the celebrations to mark both occasions a gala concert will take place in the Community Hall on Sunday 8 July in Miltown Malbay, and will be broadcast live on [...]

Long-time London resident Brian Rooney heads the list of recipients of the TG4 Gradam Ceoil 2012 (Traditional Music Awards) announced on February 2. Born and reared near Kiltyclogher in north-Leitrim, Brian’s fiddle playing soon earned him a place at the very centre of London’s vibrant traditional music scene in the 1970s and his recordings then [...]

Flute player Tim McHugh from Newport in Mayo was announced as winner of the Seán Ó Riada gold medal and prize money of €2500 on Friday night. He was amongst 15 traditional flute and whistle players who took to the stage in the Rochestown Park Hotel in Cork on Friday 13 [...]

Paddy Glackin was told he would have to buy a seat for his fiddle on a Ryanair flight from Dublin to Newcastle and nearly missed a music festival in the North of England city.
The highly regarded fiddle player has travelled all over the world with his fiddle and had always been allowed to take it [...]

Christy Moore’s new album Folk Tale was released on October 28, 2011. “It is a mixture of tragedy, poetry and humour”, according to the singer’s website. The third track My Little Honda 50 is an ode to the impact of the Honda 50 on rural Ireland in the 80s. Easter Snow is a tribute to [...]

Dublin’s planned statue of Luke Kelly has become a victim of Ireland’s economic woes. The Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) had agreed to install a statue to honour the Dubliners legend at a cost of €85,000, but it has since retracted its promise because of its own financial difficulties. “Recently when the DDDA were brought [...]

There are two new books out -  from Len Graham and John Hoban.
Joe Holmes – Here I Am Amongst You. Songs, Music and Traditions of an Ulsterman, by Len Graham.
This an account of the folklore and repertoire of one of the most influential singers and traditional fiddlers in Ireland – Joe Holmes (1906–78) of [...]

Once avoided as unfashionable by the children of the rich in urban Ireland, Irish dancing is becoming an  expensive pastime and the cost is rising, according to irishcentral.com
One New York mother, who travelled with her dancing daughter to the 2010  North American Irish Dancing Championships in Orlando, said the cost is now getting so large [...]

NUIG is starting a new two year diploma in Irish music at the Galway campus this September. The diploma is offered on a part-time basis one evening per week (Wednesday) and runs over a two year period, at the end of which students will receive a Diploma in Irish Music Studies. Topics covered [...]

Traditional Irish music acts and songwriters will now get a cut of revenue from YouTube, as part of a new licensing agreement, according to The Sunday Times. Google, the owner of YouTube,  has done a deal with the Irish Music Rights Organisation (Imro) and the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society Ireland (MCPSI), which will see the [...]

Singer Paul Brady is giving €20,000 to fund places for 25 musicians to the tune of €700 at the Blas Summer School at the University of Limerick. The Paul Brady Blas Scholarship is being set up in association with the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick, home [...]

Irish Festival shows increase in numbers

Carey Parks of Cape Coral plays Irish music on his own tin whistles …

Marie Brouder learned her set dancing in Ireland before emigrating to Australia …

Eric Cunningham from Co Galway is the man behind the World Fleadh which takes place in Castlebar

AFTER years of growth in Ireland’s entertainment market smaller venues and performers are feeling the pressure as concert-goers tighten their belts

With amost 200 fewer students registering this year, Willie Week organisers are confident

There is a strong case that the best time for FF and the Greens to go to the country would be towards the end of this year, write Stephen Collins