Ed Reavy was born in Barnagrove, Mudabawn, Co Cavan in 1898. He emigrated to the USA as a teenager with his family in 1912 and settled in the predominantly Irish area of Philadelphia known as Corktown. Barring visits home in 1922 and much later in 1969, he spent his life there until his death [...]
Former Stocktons Wing member Steve Cooney has married singer Sinead O’Connor. A notice posted on Sinead O’Connor’s website on July 22, 2010, reads: “We who run this site are very happy to announce the marriage of Steve Cooney and Sinéad O’Connor has taken place this morning.” Venue, legal or spiritual status [...]
The lyrics of the popular Dublin song published in the 18th century tell a different story.
The wit who dubbed the statue of Molly Malone in Dublin’s city centre “the tart with the cart” may not have been far off the mark.
A tiny 18th-century book has turned up in Hay-on-Wye containing the earliest [...]
Flute player Mike Rafferty has been honoured by the US National Endowment for the Arts with a 2010 Heritage Award.
Born in 1926, Mike Rafferty grew up in Ballinakill, East Galway, on a 12-acre farm. In the heart of a locality steeped in the very best of traditional music, he learned to play music from [...]
Aimee Farrell-Courtney from Ratoath in Co. Meath was crowned World Bodhrán Champion 2010 at the annual festival in Milltown in Co. Kerry on June 7. Aimee came first of 15 entries in the senior competition, judged by Donal Lunny, Connor Lyons and Sandra Joyce. She has being playing the Bodhrán for 13 [...]
The Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO) has moved against several top Irish blogs, demanding they pay hundreds of euro annually to continue sharing songs – even if they are sent to them by the artists and labels themselves, according to the Guardian newspaper.
So far, IMRO has contacted only three Irish blogs, but [...]
Last year the Kilfenora Ceili Band marked their hundreth birthday with a hectic schedule, including Glastonbury Festival. So time for the centenarians to hang up their instruments? Far from it, the Kilfenora continue to evolve. Their performance at Glor in Ennis on April 24 looks interesting, with additional players and unusual instruments joining them.
“The [...]
Altan mark 25 years as a band on Febriary 17 in the British Midlands …
Donal Lunny talks about university life in Limerick …
Opening of new Comhaltas centre is boycotted by [More]
For his new album, fiddler Kevin Burke teams up with composer Cal Scott
As the economy worsens, traditional music can help heal and bind us.
The Mulcahy Family from Co Limerick share their talents at the Masters of Tradition Festival
24 hours after the De Dannan row, the Wolfe Tones are on radio arguing over who owns the name …
Although he had to be assisted on and off stage and only sang five songs, Cavan fans couldn’t get enough of Shane MacGowan
The High Kings, Sharon Shannon Band and Celtic Women topped the email poll at the World Fleadh
WHAT’S in a name? Quite a lot for some musicians it seems, after a spat between two of the founding members of trad supergroup De Dannan erupted into a public row as some of Ireland’s best-known musicians insulted each other on the airwaves. Alec Finn, who founded the band along with fiddler Frankie Gavin, sent [...]
Irish Music is thriving in Hungary – with concerts by Blackriders, IrKa-IrKa and Bran. Bran plays a in Bran Klub Jókai Klub, Budapest, Hollós út 5. on the 18th July – this coming Saturday. At 17.00 They introduce Irish Dancing/Ceili and classes with Irish Music, all of this is followed by a show and an [...]
Gerry Adams recalls the days he knew the Orange anthem ‘The Sash My Father Wore’ off by heart in both Irish and English. “My interest in Orange ballads was a natural outworking of a love for folk or roots music,” he writes in his blog on the eve of ‘The Twelfth’. He also lays out [...]
Since 1996 Boston’s The Dropkick Murphys have fused traditional Celtic music, hardcore, and just straight-up rock ‘n’ roll into a sweaty, swinging sledgehammer
