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 [...]

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 [...]

Gundagai festival shows how its done

Brothers Christy Moore and Luka Bloom have inspired a nd guided each other through lives filled with music

Frank Harte was born on May 14, 1933, on the banks of the Liffey, at Chapelizod, where his family ran The Tap pub. His introduction to Irish singing came, he said, from a chance listening to an itinerant who was selling ballad sheets at a fair in Boyle. He became a great exponents of the [...]

Singer, songwriter and musician Andy Irvine was born on June 14, 1942, in Southgate, London. His father was from Scotland and mother from Ireland. He showed an early interest in acting and the skiffle groups of the late 1950s. He started to learn classical guitar and after coming across the music [...]

Luke Kelly was born on November 17, 1940, into a working class family in Sheriff Street, a quarter of a mile from Dublin’s O’Connell Street. His grandmother, who was a McDonald from Scotland, lived with the family until her death in 1953. His father worked all his life in Jacobs biscuit factory and enjoyed playing [...]