Originally from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Rik Walton has spent a lifetime photographing music and theatre all over the world. In the early 2010s he lived in South-West Donegal and recorded the music he found in that community with his camera. The selection of images presented here are of Donegal fiddler’s performances at the Glencolmcille Folk Village. For more information on Rik and his images see https://www.rikwalton.com

My involvement with the scheme began in mid-December 2019, when the usual deluge of end-of-semester emails was interrupted by the announcement of a bursary being offered by ITMA to allow a student to spend a researcb week in the Archive.

My name is Kara O’Brien. I am a Ph.D. student at the Irish World Academy (IWA) at the University of Limerick. Originally from a little town outside of Denver, Colorado in the US, I began singing traditional Irish songs when I was very small, and for most of my life I have sung, collected, and studied traditional songs. I moved to Ireland four years ago to continue this work, first through an M.A. in Traditional Music Performance, and now through a Ph.D. focusing on traditional Irish hunting songs.

Although I had briefly visited the Archive a couple of times earlier in my research, I must admit that I was a bit intimidated by the idea of conducting any extended research there—at first in the mistaken belief that ITMA’s extensive online offerings contained most of their collection, and later because I found there was so much material available that it was difficult to know where to begin.

The trouble with hunting songs is that they tend to show up in all sorts of odd places. For the last three years, I have tracked them down on various recordings, through internet searches and, mostly, through word of mouth. I began studying them because 1) they have been largely neglected in the past, and 2) they contain all sorts of interesting bits of historical, cultural and political information buried in them. It is exactly these two things that make them so difficult to find, however. They have rarely been compiled, and they turn up in the guise of everything from political ballads to lengthy sporting rhymes to love songs. Fascinating, but difficult to find.

I arrived at the Archive on a bright January morning, with a collection of about 15 hunting songs, and the hope that during the week I would turn perhaps two or three new ones and some variations on the ones I had. By the time I got on the bus back to Limerick the following Saturday, I had a list of over 100 distinct songs.

Perhaps more importantly even than the songs, however, I gained a whole new appreciation of ITMA, its collection, its importance to the traditional music and dance of Ireland, and its remarkable and passionate staff.

Sitting in the lovely Georgian library for a week, I had a unique opportunity to experience the range of people who use the archive, and the vast resources and knowledge of the staff who help them make the most of the collection. I also gained a new understanding of the Archive as a part of the living tradition of Ireland’s music and dance, and its passionate dedication to collection and preserving all aspects of the tradition.

The following week this was demonstrated with even more force, when ITMA Director Liam O’Connor, Project Manager Grace Toland, and Field Recording Officer Brian Doyle arrived at the Irish World Academy for the Pop-Up Archive.

The two days that the Archive spent at the Academy were marked with growing excitement as students began to better understand what the Archive was and how they could make use of it. On the second day the Archive staff and myself gave a presentation about ITMA, its goals, purpose and the various resources available. Afterwards, the Archive recorded an interview with the great musician Mickey Dunne, showcasing the Archive’s commitment to preserving the living tradition, and allowing students to witness field-recording first-hand.

The series paired poets and musicians from different musical genres in performance at Poetry Ireland headquarters in Parnell Square, Dublin. These events were recorded by ITMA.

The poet/traditional music partners were: 

• Moya Cannon and Kathleen Loughnane 
• John McAuliffe and Kevin Doherty
• Mary O’Malley and Tommy Keane
• Nessa O’ Mahony and Dermot McLaughlin

In advance of each traditional music partnership, former ITMA colleague Rebecca Draisey-Collishaw prepared a blog about the performers and their craft. 

Included below is the piece she wrote in advance of Mary and Tommy’s event on the 20 June 2018.

The blogs for the other performers can be found in the related materials at the bottom of this blog.

‘I work at an oblique angle to music,’ Mary O’Malley tells me when I ask her about how her poems reflect and react to the sounds and people she hears. Sometimes her words are meditations on particular tunes. Sometimes content reflects a visceral reaction to the medium—the instrument—of performance. And sometimes poetry intertwines with the auras of particular musicians. 

Playing the Octopus is the latest book of poems by Mary O’Malley, an award-winning poet, member of Aosdana, and regular contributor to RTÉ Radio. Born in Connemara and educated at University College Galway, she lived and taught in Lisbon for eight years, and subsequently has taught on the MA programme for Writing and Education at NUIGalway and held the Chair of Irish Studies at Villanova University. 

She has listened to music and musicians her entire life, so it is fitting that the poetry in Playing the Octopus uses music, particularly the playing of the pipes, as a metaphor for life. 

One poem from the collection, ‘Ixion Stopped,’ is after broadcaster and box player Tony MacMahon’s playing of ‘Raglan Road.’ 

Tony Mc Mahon Plays Raglan Road 

And every girl pregnant with disappointment
and death is in it. The man on the rock 
saying ‘is uaigneach a bheith fireann 
ar an gcarraig crua seo’ is in it. It is played
on the ribcage, teased out of the bone nest 
of the tune with care, with skill. Kept beating—
for the exact caesura a tired heart needs.
Then resumes.

I have heard it fleshed out with lush curves,
too much pigment in the tint. This is the poem
scored on bone, the tune given back to itself.
The stops played this way once, and only once.
The air shivers. Her own dark hair
a glint of copper—the snare. The sign that’s known. 

(from Playing the Octopus, Carcanet Press 2016; used with permission) 

Her words reflect on the music’s despair and its capacity to be felt in the bone, but also react to the musician. Indeed, Mary commented that Tony’s is a presence that could inspire an entire book of poetry. 

Another poem in Playing the Octopus, ‘What Ireland Needs,’ came about when Mary heard percussionist Mel Mercier play the bones, an instrument that she often heard in childhood but that now occupies the sidelines for many traditional musicians. The simplicity of the bones—at their most basic they are scavenged by their user—prompted her to think about getting back to basics in the face of modernity’s chaos and distraction. In ‘What Ireland Needs’ Mary reacts less to melodies and rhythms, and more to the act and medium of performance. 

As Mary says, 

The ‘many tentacled’ uilleann pipes inspired the title poem in Playing the Octopus, so it’s fitting that Mary O’Malley is joined by Waterford-born uilleann piper Tommy Keane for their ‘Soul Clap Its Hands and Sing’ performance. Like Mary, Tommy is no stranger to collaboration: he has spent his career working as a session musician, appearing on the albums of the likes of Elvis Costello and the Pogues, as well as crossing boundaries to perform with the Rambart Ballet Company in London, the Druid Theatre Company and An Taibhdhearc in Galway, Iarla Ó Lionárd, and the Irish Philharmonic. 

Tommy took up the uilleann pipes in his early 20s. He learned his craft from local piper Tommy Kearney, and also was influenced by the tuition he received at the Willie Clancy Summer School—namely from Pat Mitchell and the late Liam O’Flynn. While living in London during the 1980s, Tommy benefited from being part of a vibrant Irish music scene that included the likes of Tommy McCarthy, Bobby Casey, and Roger Sherlock. He was also a member of London’s Thatch Céilí Band, 1986 winners of the Senior Céilí Band Competition at the All Ireland Fleadh Cheoil in Listowel, Co Kerry.  

A recording of Tommy performing at the Wednesday lunchtime piping recital at the 2010 Willie Clancy Summer School demonstrates his lineage as a piper from Waterford. He performs a reel, ‘The hornless cow,’ that he learned from the playing of Tommy Kearney. 

Since returning to Ireland in 1987, Tommy has lived in Galway. A regular teacher of traditional music in Co Galway, he also has taught at festivals and Uilleann Pipe clubs throughout Ireland and the world. Tommy holds an MA(Hons) in Traditional Music Performance from University of Limerick, completed in 2000, and was the Chairman of Na Píobairi Uilleann from 2013 to 2018. 

Get to know the artists

Visit ITMA to hear more from both Mary O’Malley and Tommy Keane. Here’s just a short list of the recordings, tune books, and field recordings in the ITMA Collection that might interest you. 

Our recordings of Mary O’Malley reading point to her important work in environmental education. Both Behind the mist (2000, CONCD001) and An cosán draíochta = The magic path: celebrating 25 years of bog & sea weeks (2009, CMCD004/005) were released by the Connemara Environmental Education Centre.

The ITMA catalogue includes Tommy Keane’s solo album, The piper’s apron (1991, LUNCD052), a duo album with his wife and musical partner, concertina player Jacqueline McCarthy—The wind among the reeds (1995, MMCCD51)—not to mention countless commercial recordings that feature Tommy in a variety of roles ranging from session musician to producer (e.g., The family album by the McCarthys [2002, MMCCD54]). 

Available only at ITMA are a range of non-commercial field recordings, as well as printed tune books:

• The piper’s apron: tune notation from the CD recording by Tommy Keane / notation and layout by Tommy Keane
• The wind among the reeds: tune notation from the CD recording by Tommy Keane and Jacqueline McCarthy / notation and layout by Tommy Keane 

Book now to hear what happens when Mary O’Malley and Tommy Keane take the stage in Poetry Ireland.

WRITTEN & RESEARCHED

Rebecca Draisey-Collishaw
ITMA Archive Assistant (Digital Collections)
25 June 2018

WITH THANKS TO
Mary O’Malley, Tommy Keane & Tony Kearns

UPDATED

Grace Toland
ITMA Project Manager
30 April 2020

Cartlann Ghradam Ceoil

Irish-language broadcasters TG4 knew that they were sitting on a treasure trove of traditional music in the annual Gradam Ceoil concerts. Running since 1998 and now a highlight of the broadcasting schedule, these annual awards programmes are a valuable (re)source for tunes, songs, and unique performances.

The nature of live television and the packed schedules of the concerts means that performers only rarely have a chance to tell the audience what they are planning to play. The presenter sometimes does it for them, but more often than not introductions take the form of a generic “dreas ríleanna” (“a selection of reels”). The presenters often identify the performers, but individual band members are not named.

In other words, there were major information gaps that made accessing the contents of the broadcasts challenging.

This is where ITMA came in. In 2018 we were tasked with taking all 21 years of TG4 Gradam Ceoil award ceremonies and identifying every tune, every song, every instrument, and every performer.

As ITMA’s melodies officer, it became my job to listen, watch, identify, and document the performances.

It was a daunting task. There were 24 programmes in total (in the early years, the concert was broadcast in two halves). But, as a traditional musician, it was a job that I approached with relish. After all:

• The list of performers reads like a who’s who of Irish music;
• The production values are extremely high;
• And the music is of the finest quality.

It was “work” that I couldn’t help but enjoy!

Tools

My tools for this task were ITMA’s own extensive catalogue: each recording and book at ITMA is catalogued to the level of tune or song. With this resource I was able to find the relevant tune in a book or on a recording. Then I looked at or listened to the physical item in the ITMA catalogue to match it to the tune or song I was identifying.

My own musical knowledge and my fluency in Irish were integral to this project. But I also relied heavily on the TunePal app developed by Dr. Bryan Duggan.

This app allows you to play a few bars of a tune into your phone and then it tells you what it is called. It also identifies the names of similar tunes if an exact match isn’t found. In other words, it is Shazam for Irish traditional music.

I also used various other web-based resources:

• www.thesession.org;
• www.irishtune.info;
• www.mudcat.org;
• Port, ITMA’s own tune resource.

Tunes

I’m not one of those musicians who can tell you the name of a tune that was just played in a session, even if I just played it myself. Most of the time, I didn’t know the name of the tune I was listening to off-hand.

TunePal became my best friend. If I knew the tune, it was easy to play it into TunePal on the tin whistle and then use the name that TunePal gave me as a starting point. If I didn’t know the tune, I listened to it a few times and tried to pick it up by ear. Then I played an approximation of it into TunePal to get started.

This methodology served me well for about three quarters of the material.

Tunes often have multiple names—a topic that is a subject for another blog!—so I worked to confirm that the titles and tunes matched up and that I was using a well-known title for each tune.

I also checked to find out if the performer had a commercially recorded version of the tune they performed for the Gradam Ceoil awards ceremony; using their published title was my preference. For performers, the Gradam Ceoil was a very important gig. It was often the case that they chose to play tracks that were well practiced and highly polished.

If it transpired that the tune was a composition, the composer was listed alongside the tune name.

Songs

The songs weren’t as difficult to identify. More often than not the song was introduced with the performer. Titles of traditional songs are usually present in the first line or a line in the chorus. Listening to the words enabled me to make a guess at a possible title that I could then confirm using ITMA’s resources.

Filling the gaps

After the first pass, a significant amount of information—what librarians and archivists call “metadata”—was available for each Gradam Ceoil concert.

However, there were still a lot of untitled songs and tunes, as well as unidentified performers. I had to cast the net a bit wider. I sent many emails to people asking:

• if they remembered what tunes they had played;
• if they recognised the people in the screen grabs;
• if they remembered who had been on the stage with them.

As often happens with these projects, the deadline was looming and there was still lots to do. It was time for the big guns. Jackie Small, who many will know as a ‘tunologist’ of note, and my ITMA colleagues Dr Lynnsey Weissenberger, Brian Doyle, Alan Woods and Maeve Gebruers listened to the last batch of unidentified tunes and between us we were able to identify most of them.

People were very generous with their time and knowledge and my thanks to all who contributed in this way.

Going live

I made a few trips to the TG4 offices in Baile na hAbhann to assist with inputting the data into their own systems, as this provides the technical back-end to the TG4-ITMA collaborative website. Most of this work was done by Sinéad Ní Ráinne and her excellent team at Europus. They even managed to fill in a few blanks for me as they worked!

The website is now live and all the information that we gathered is there for everyone to use. Since this project started Gradam 2019 has been added to the site and we are currently working on the 2020 award ceremony.

Over the 20+ years that the Gradam Ceoil ceremony has broadcast, there have been approximately 800 performers involved and over 700 songs and tunes performed. All performers that can be seen on stage are identified, and there are only 13 tunes left nameless. There may be mistakes—I’m sure there are!—and I welcome any feedback. I would also love to know the names of the outstanding tunes or people if anyone out there can help.

I hope viewers of the material get as much enjoyment out of watching the performances and using the data as I got out of its creation.

Visit the site now

WRITTEN & RESEARCHED

Treasa Harkin ITMA
Melodies & Images Officer
25 September 2018, updated 19 March 2020

WITH THANKS TO

TG4 & the many musicians, singers, and listeners who contributed information and insights

For those of you who are not familiar with the collection, you can read about Dr John Cullinane and his donation to ITMA here. Many people are excited about my appointment to this job (trust me – I am too!), most people ask me: What do you actually do there all day long? I thought it would be a good idea to share some of the experiences I’m having here at ITMA, and explain a bit about my role as a project cataloguer and the tasks involved with working on the CAC. But let me start from the beginning.

The very first day I was given an in-depth tour of the ITMA premises – I had been in ITMA before for different personal research projects, so was already familiar (and in love with!) the building and especially with all the media which has been made available to the public. It was nice to see “behind-the-scenes” and see how, and where ITMA’s wonderful treasures (records, books, CD’s etc.) are stored. On my first day I also had a chance to get myself acquainted with what John Cullinane had already donated to ITMA, and I braced myself for the collection of his 4th accrual (by the way – accrual was a new word for my vocabulary… I am learning new things every day!).

The next morning, battling the rain, Maeve Gebruers, head archivist at ITMA, and myself, headed down to Cork to meet with John in his personal office at the Music Department at University College Cork. I hadn’t seen John in a few years, so it was good to meet again, especially to meet him in his personal research haven, where he has stored his collection for many decades. Of course, stories were shared, photographs and hand-embroidered sashes shown, and, as a passionate dance lover, everywhere I looked I found things of interest that made my dance-researcher heart beat that little bit faster. After carrying 12 big boxes full of material down several flights of stairs, and listening to stories about John’s life as a marine biologist over a shared meal afterwards, it was time to tackle the long journey back to Dublin – me with a very humble heart, as John had gifted me a few goodies along with a set of his published books, which are now decorating my new office and are being referenced regularly as I look up dates and names while cataloguing his collection.

The following day my actual work began. My background lies in primary school teaching and dance research, but I’ve always made a point of complementing my main careers with different small jobs. But like any job, getting familiar with new tasks (and computer systems) takes a bit of time. I work manually, handling the different donated items, while describing and cataloguing them on the computer. The materials are then placed in archival folders and boxes and stored in a specific location at ITMA. All this is documented in a digital file, so that once the collection is made available to the public, the location of specific items of interest can be tracked and brought to the researcher for viewing.

For the first part of this process, I got a loan of – would you believe – clay crafting tools from Maeve. These I used to flatten any creases in paper documents and to carefully remove staples. All metal needs to be removed because of the damage that rust can cause to documents. Plastic folders also need to be removed and replaced by either thin plastic paperclips or Mylar – an inert plastic used by archives (another new word for my vocabulary!) Post-its are removed from the original document and stuck on thin tissue-paper, the glue of the post-it can also cause damage to pages in the long run. All these steps ensure the long-term preservation of documents.

I tackle the collection binder by binder – open it up, see what’s inside, clear the documents of unnecessary plastic and metal, sort through them and place them neatly into archival folders, thereby reducing the overall volume and ensuring long-term preservation. This whole process can take quite a significant amount of time, but it’s very rewarding to see the re-housed collection in labelled folders in archival boxes.

Handling these old documents is not only a very interesting task, it is also a privilege. It offers me an insight into the mind of a passionate collector of dance history. I come across things I myself have collected over the years, but also things I would never have thought of collecting, so I am learning all the time. I see and understand the importance of the different items with regards to the preservation of an art form that is so important for this country, and yet sometimes I feel it’s not validated enough (but don’t worry, I won’t go down that road now…). What I love most about the process, and is something that some people may perhaps find trivial, but I cherish tremendously, are John Cullinane’s personal notes.

John spends many months describing his collection for ITMA before their transfer to No. 73 Merrion Square. In these Word documents, he offers a lot of additional information to the items he has donated. It ranges from factual to humorous, very often offering more information on a specific date, meeting, dancer, competition etc., and is often annotated with small personal anecdotes about his relationship to the item or any similar context. Very often I find myself laughing out loud – his humorous way of explaining or describing situations is a very valuable insight into his personality, his way of thinking and researching, and his way of seeing things. I very much appreciate this insight into the man behind this collection.

A recurring theme in these personal notes is his frustration with undated documents. Providing each item with a date is such an important thing in any field relating to history. I can literally sense John’s frustration of having undated documents through the notes attached to material! Now this is something we can all learn from – next time we write a story, a post, or a letter: always write down a date!

While handling the material – and if my office-roomie isn’t around – I listen to interviews with John Cullinane, and conducted by him with other dancers. By doing this, I hope to get a better sense of the man and his way of thinking. This will improve my understanding of the material and inform how best to preserve his collection for the benefit of future users.

It is certainly not an easy task, especially as I become more and more aware of the magnitude of his work, and the impact it has had across several continents. It is my hope that in making this collection accessible that people will realise and truly understand the great work that John Cullinane has achieved in documenting the origins of Irish dance and its development over the years to where it is now. There is so much more to Irish step dance than the simple glitz and world cup… and, who knows, perhaps it might also even inspire people to document their own journey and leave a mark on the wonderful world of Irish dance history.

Next month I’ll be telling you about a new challenge I’ve been currently facing, and I hope to let you look over my shoulder as I work. Until then – see you soon, take care, and stay safe!

by Stephanie SK Marbach, September 2022

The Cullinane Archive Collection will be made available to the the public when all transfers and processing is complete.

For more information on this, and other projects at ITMA, please stay in touch by signing up to our monthly newsletter.

You can also follow us on:

Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube

Interviews with founding and long-time members of the Góilín Singers Club. Conducted by Ian Lynch as part of the Irish Traditional Music Archive’s Góilín Song Project.

This is the Irish Traditional Music Archive’s contribution to Ireland’s National Music Day – Love: Live Music (21 June 2012). It is a session of music and song by off-duty staff members of the Archive, recorded ‘live’ on video in the ITMA basement studio at 73 Merrion Square, Dublin 2. It has been produced by ITMA Field-Recordings Officer Danny Diamond.

The musicians presented here on video are Co Meath concertina player and dancer Caitlín Nic Gabhann, accompanied on guitar by Caoimhín Ó Fearghail of Co Waterford (who also plays flute here), and joined on some tracks by fiddle player Ciarán Ó Maonaigh of Co Donegal. They were recorded by Irish Traditional Music Archive staff at the Frankie Kennedy Winter School / Scoil Gheimhridh in Gaoth Dobhair / Gweedore, Co Donegal, in 2012.

The Frankie Kennedy Winter School, set up in memory of the late Belfast flute player and unique among Irish traditional music schools in spanning the turn of the year, came to a natural end in 2013–2014, after 20 annual schools. It is being replaced this winter by a new event Scoil Gheimhridh Ghaoth Dobhair (http://www.scoilgheimhridh.com). This will feature music concerts, classes and sessions, Irish-language classes, films, etc., in six venues around Gweedore from 27 December 2014 to 1 January 2015.

With thanks to the musicians for permission to use their performances.

Nicholas Carolan & Treasa Harkin, 1 December 2014

As is amply proved by the excellent players on these video recordings from the collections of the Irish Traditional Music Archive, the tin whistle is a destination instrument in Irish traditional music, as well as being an entry-level stepping stone to other instruments such as the flute and uilleann pipes. It has a unique sound that can range from the plangent on slow airs to a crisp tightness on fast dance tunes, and it will always have its own space in the music. In recent years, experimental makers using a variety of materials have developed the instrument, and have transformed it from the cheap, beloved, but sometimes unreliable whistles available a generation ago.

The recordings were made by ITMA staff at a variety of venues over the period: the Willie Clancy Summer School in Co Clare, the Frankie Kennedy Winter School in Co Donegal, and the Scoil Shamhna Shéamuis Ennis in Co Dublin.

With thanks to the performers for permission to present their music here, and to the organisers of the three schools for facilitating ITMA staff in making the recordings.

Nicholas Carolan, Treasa Harkin & Piaras Hoban, 1 August 2015

Is féile bhliantúil d’amhránaíocht ar an sean-nós i nGaeilge í Sean-Nós Cois Life atá ar siúl i gcathair Bhaile Átha Cliath ó 1992 i leith, agus a mbíonn ceol uirlise agus rince ar an sean-nós bainteach léi freisin. Is í príomh-aidhm na féile ná ‘deis a thabhairt do dhaoine amhráin sa stíl dhúchasach a fhoghlaim agus a chasadh’. Cuirtear ceardlanna agus seisiúin ar siúl chuige sin le linn deireadh seachtaine san Earrach, agus tugtar ardán ansin, neamhspleách ar chomórtas, d’amhránaithe nach gcloistear ach go hannamh san ardchathair. Tá clár Sean-Nós Cois Life 2014 le fáil anseo.

Tá Taisce Cheol Dúchais Éireann ag taifeadadh ag an bhféile seo leis na blianta, agus cuirtear ar fáil anseo roinnt físeán a rinneadh i gClub na Múinteoirí, Cearnóg Pharnell, BÁC 1, agus i dTigh Hughes, Sráid Chancery, BÁC 7, ag an seisiún scoir a bhíonn ann tráthnóna Dé Domhnaigh. ‘Srach’-thaifeadtaí atá anseo – bíonn foireann na Taisce ag iarraidh gan cur isteach ar nádúrthacht na hócáide ar maithe le hard-chaighdeán físe agus fuaime.

Sean-Nós Cois Life is an annual festival of Irish-language ‘old-style’ singing that has been held in Dublin since 1992, with an admixture of instrumental music and dance. The main aim of the festival is to give an opportunity to people to learn and sing Irish-language songs in traditional style. To this end, workshops and sessions are organised over a weekend in the Spring, and singers who are seldom heard in Dublin are given a non-competitive platform for their art. The programme for this year’s festival is here.

The Irish Traditional Music Archive has been recording at this event for some years, and a selection of videos made in the Teachers’ Club, Parnell Square, Dublin 1, and in Hughes’s pub on Chancery St, Dublin 7, at the Sunday afternoon parting session is presented here from the ITMA collections. The videos are ‘grab’ recordings, as ITMA staff do not wish to interfere with the natural flow of the occasion for the sake of making perfect recordings.

Buíochas leis na hamhránaithe a thug cead dúinn a dtaifeadtaí siúd a chur suas anseo, agus le Antaine Ó Faracháin & Siobhán Ní Laoire.

Nicholas Carolan & Treasa Harkin, 1 April 2014

The Kerry fiddle player Con Curtin (1926–2009) was a noted figure among the emigrant Irish traditional musicians of London in the 1960s, both as a performer and, after a period working in construction, as the landlord of the Balloon public house in Chelsea, London SW, which was one of the centres of Irish music in the city. He returned to his native Brosna in the 1970s where he set up again as a publican. In 2001, while he was still alive, a music festival in his honour was established in the village, with sessions, concerts and pub trails.

The videos presented here were recorded by Irish Traditional Music Archive staff in June 2014, at the 14th Con Curtin Festival. This year the festival was part of a new initiative, the Sliabh Luachra Music Trail, which links the various traditional music festivals of the region, and which was launched in March in Ballydesmond with ITMA participation at an event recorded here. The launch also formed the basis of an RTÉ Radio 1 ‘Rolling Wave’ programme which is archived on the RTÉ website here.

With thanks to the musicians who have given permission to publish, and for facilitation to Cian Heffernan of the Cork Co Council Arts Office and to Gerard Curtin & the Con Curtin Festival Committee of Brosna.

Nicholas Carolan & Treasa Harkin, 1 August 2014

Paddy Joe Tighe is an accordion player, tin whistle player, lilter and singer who now lives in Ballyhaunis, Co. Mayo.  Earlier this year, Jackie Small & Brian Doyle from the Irish Traditional Music Archive (ITMA) had the great pleasure of travelling to meet Paddy Joe in his own home, and record an interview with him.  Born in Arderry, Aghamore, Co. Mayo Paddy Joe was steeped in a family musical tradition as well as that of his locality.  His mother Kate played the accordion and over the course of this interview, her influence is often acknowledged.  His love of music and his generous spirit have led to many musical friendships among both the settled and traveller communities, including the legendary Pecker Dunne & Margaret Barry.  His detailed reminiscenses are interspered with tunes on the accordion and tin whistle as well as songs, reflecting Paddy Joe’s rich & unique legacy of style & repertoire, and his thoughtful approach to the place of music in his life.

This is an edited extract from the full interview.  It can be viewed in its entirety at our premises in 73 Merrion Square, Dublin.  ITMA would like to sincerely thank Paddy Joe for his hospitality and generosity in allowing us to film this video and in giving permission to make it available online.

On Saturday 14 May 2016, ITMA hosted a talk by Dr Reg Hall to celebrate the launch of 2 new CD collections from Topic Records.  It Was Mighty, It Was Great Altogether and the free e-book A Few Tunes of Good Music document Irish music in London from the 1950s to the 2010s.   The 6 CDs in The Voice of the People series were edited by Reg Hall so the occasion also offered a timely opportunity to pay tribute to his lifetime’s work as researcher, musician and collector of Irish music in London over a period of 60 years.  Nicholas Carolan officially launched the collection and introduced Reg to a packed house in the ITMA Reading Room and to those who were joining us online via the ITMA YouTube channel. In the following hour, through sound, story and image, Reg brought us on a rich and memorable journey to the world of Irish music in London. 

ITMA would like to thank Dr Reg Hall for permission to reproduce this presentation on its website.

ITMA are delighted to make available a digital edition of Micheal Tubridy’s A selection of Irish traditional step dances (2018).

The steps in this book come from people who learned their dancing in the old school, in the early part of the 20th century, and this form is generally described as Traditional Irish Step Dancing. It is a form of dancing which is not really competition orientated, even though the odd competition is held, so there is no need for a stiff body posture. The arms may hang loosely by the side, the body be held in its natural upright position, and the legs should always be bent slightly at the knees, to give a bounce or spring or easy style to the step.

Michael Tubridy, from the introduction to the 2nd edition

In 1998 Brooks Academy published the first edition of this book, which used a unique notation system devised by Michael to describe step dances which he and his wife Céline had learned from dance masters Dan Furey (1910−1994) and James Keane (1917−2000). Both men, from Labasheeda, Co Clare, perpetuated an older style of traditional step dancing. Michael and Céline brought this local tradition to another generation through teaching in Ireland and abroad. In 2007 they released an instructional DVD Step Dancing with Céline and Michael Tubridy. In 2018 Micheal published a second edition of the book and another DVD, with a further 9 dances.

Michael Tubridy has generously allowed ITMA to publish the DVD recordings and his notation, and this page brings together the learning tools for all 18 dances from the book.

For each dance there is a video recording at normal dance tempo first, followed by a performance at a slower tempo for learning purposes. Individual steps are isolated and slowed to highlight certain phrases of the dance. Voice-over instructions can be heard from Michael and Céline throughout the videos. Links to the individual steps are available when viewed on the ITMA YouTube channel.

Each dance also has a PDF download of the steps in notation, as it appeared in the printed book. A PDF download of the full book is also available.

ITMA would like to thank Michael Tubridy, and his late wife Céline, for permission to publish this material on its website.

From the early years of the Willie Clancy Summer School, which was founded in Miltown Malbay, Co Clare, in 1973, Na Píobairí Uilleann, the Dublin-based organisation for uilleann pipers, has played a central role in organising the teaching, refurbishing and playing of the pipes at the School.

From the 1980s, uilleann pipers played for their fellow pipers on an organised basis after morning classes at their centre on the Ballard Road, and in recent years these lunchtime recitals have moved to take place in Halla an Phobail, the Miltown Malbay community hall, for the wider audience of all those attending the School.

Presented here are Halla an Phobail performances, recorded by Irish Traditional Music Archive staff,  by two of the leading contemporary pipers who featured at the July 2011 recitals: Mickey Dunne of Limerick and Jimmy O’Brien Moran of Waterford.

With thanks to the performers for permission to upload recordings of their playing here, and to Na Píobairí Uilleann and the Willie Clancy Summer School for facilitating ITMA in making the recordings.

Nicholas Carolan & Treasa Harkin, 1 February 2014

The varied selection of instrumental duets recorded on video and presented here with the kind permission of the performers come from recent years:

Robbie Hannan of Co Down on uilleann pipes and Jesse Smith, originally from Baltimore, Maryland, on fiddle were recorded by Irish Traditional Music Archive staff at an Irish Music Study Day held in the School of Music & Sonic Arts, Queen’s University Belfast, in May 2012.

Padraig McGovern of the Cavan-Leitrim border area on uilleann pipes and Peter Carberry of Co Longford on accordion were recorded by ITMA staff in the Market Theatre, Armagh, at the William Kennedy Piping Festival of November 2014.

Brid Harper of Co Donegal on fiddle and Harry Bradley of Belfast on flute were recorded by ITMA staff at Scoil Gheimhridh Ghaoth Dobhair, Gaoth Dobhair, Co Donegal, in December 2014.

The duet recordings of Dublin harpers Anne-Marie O’Farrell and Cormac De Barra were kindly donated to the ITMA collections by the performers in 2014.

For further information on the performers and their recordings see websites for Jesse Smith, Peter Carberry & Padraig McGovern, Harry Bradley, Anne-Marie O’Farrell, and Cormac De Barra.

With thanks to all the performers, and to the organisers of the various events for facilitating the recordings.

Nicholas Carolan, Treasa Harkin, Piaras Hoban & Danny Diamond, 1 February 2015

On 7 January 2015 occurred the 101st anniversary of the death of the notable Limerick traditional music collector Patrick Weston Joyce (1827–1914) whose published and unpublished music collections have been digitised by Irish Traditional Music Archive staff in the course of the past centenary year, and are now freely available on its website (formerly the PW Joyce Irish Music Microsite).

Joyce’s music collections are of great historical, social and regional interest, but their overriding contemporary value is as a source of music. His music notations, published song words and ballad-sheet collection, and the ITMA interactive music scores created from his melodies, all constitute a rich seedbed of traditional music and song for re-creation by musicians and singers of the present day.

To mark the occasion of the anniversary and the end of the centenary year, ITMA has added to its Joyce Microsite a selection of videos recorded recently by its staff on location in Newport, Co Tipperary, and Kinvara, Co Galway, and in its studio in Dublin. The recordings feature a number of contemporary musicians and singers – all of whom have had their own previous and varied connections with the music and song of Joyce – performing their re-creations of sample items from his collections. They have kindly agreed to be recorded for presentation here.

Nicholas Carolan and Danny Diamond, 7 January 2015

For such a small instrument, the mouth-organ is physically hard to play, especially for jigs and reels, and that may be one of the reasons it is not more commonly used in Irish traditional music. In the past it was often given as a Christmas present to children and the tuneless results did not add to its status. But in the right hands the mouth-organ is very compatible with the nature of the music, and it is particularly popular in Co Wexford, the county with which it is associated above all others. In recent years, the instrument has been enjoying a renaissance in traditional music circles, one driven by several virtuoso players, some of whom simultaneously play the concertina. The once universal term ‘mouth-organ’ has been disappearing to be replaced by ‘harmonica’, an indication that the favoured form of the instrument now is the uniquely reeded chromatic form.

As a reflection of its rise in popularity, the harmonica has been taught in recent years at the annual Willie Clancy Summer School in Miltown Malbay, Co Clare, and has been allocated its own annual concert at the venue of The Mill. The recordings presented here were filmed by Irish Traditional Music Archive staff at the second such concert, on 11 July 2013.

With thanks to Padraig Enright, Rick Epping, Mick Kinsella, and John & Pip Murphy for permission to present these recordings, and to the organisers of the Willie Clancy Summer School for facilitating ITMA in making them.

Nicholas Carolan, Brian Doyle & Treasa Harkin, 1 October 2013

To celebrate Love : Live music on National Music Day 2013 the Archive issued an invitation to Ceoltoiri Chluain Tarbh, a vibrant group of musicians from the northside of Dublin, to participate in a recording session.  Nine musicans, ranging in age from 9 to 25 came to the studio on the 18 June 2013 and recorded the tracks presented here.  The Lonergan sisters, Áine (fiddle) and Aisling (accordion), joined in a trio with guitarist John Flynn.  John also played with fiddle player Cathal Caulfield and then sang a song.  His sister Sarah played concertina while Aoife Nic Domhnaill played two tracks on the fiddle.  The O’Grady family were the youngest representatives of the club.  Aisling, aged 11, played whistle and flute while her sisters Rachel (14) and Eve (9) played a duet on fiddle and concertina respectively.

More information on Ceoltóirí Chluain Tarbh can be found from https://ceoltoiri.ie/

Our thanks to Maurice Mullen and the musicians from Ceoltóirí Chluain Tarbh for their participation in this recording project.

ITMA was delighted to hear in April 2022 that it had been awarded a Community Heritage Grant from the Heritage Council for its project “Physical to Digital: A Complete Scanning Solution for the Irish Traditional Music Archive.” This funding has enabled ITMA to purchase a state-of-the-art specialised large format archival scanning system. Presented below is a collection of LP covers which have been digitised for Heritage Week 2022 using this new scanner.
The scanner which was manufactured by I2S a French company who specialise in image capture and processing is A2 in size. This machine enables ITMA to scan a range of large-format materials which we have been unable to do in-house in the past. Materials like large-sized sheet music, posters, LP covers, a wide range of manuscripts, printed books, periodicals and images. This specialised equipment will future-proof the safe in-house digitisation of all this material for many years to come.

Watch the behind-the-scenes video which documents the installation of this new state-of-the-art scanning system and read our Heritage Week blog here.

Heritage Week 2022 – ITMA Scanner – YouTube

ITMA Poster Collection

The Irish Traditional Music Archive has 1000s of posters in its collection.

The humble poster still catches the attention in spite of the increasing use of electronic advertising media in Irish traditional music, and it brings to public notice festivals, summer and winter schools, concerts, recitals, dances and classes, and a whole variety of publications. The effect of posters has been noticeably enhanced in modern times by increasing local expertise in graphic design and computerised printing, and they are likely to continue to decorate shop windows and pub walls far into the future.

The poster has a secondary, archival value: it serves as a record of events and the places in which they take place, the performers who appear at them, the groups in which they appear, the instruments they play, and a range of other information, from prices to other advertising techniques. Often the poster remains as the only record of a musical event and the people who participated in it. For these reasons, the Irish Traditional Music Archive has always actively collected posters (along with flyers, programmes, and other advertising material). (Nicholas Carolan, 1 April 2010)

Presented below are a selection of Irish music posters from three different sources in the ITMA collection. The first is a collection of posters donated to ITMA recently by Paddy Glackin. The posters mainly focus on Dublin based events in the 1970s and 1980s in venues such as Trinity College and Liberty Hall. The second selection of posters is from the Tomás Ó Canainn collection which was donated to ITMA by his family in 2020. These posters date from the 1970s and feature the Cork group Na Filí which Tomás founded in the late 1960s with fiddler Matt Cranitch and whistle player Tom Barry. Finally a selection of poster from ITMA’s collection is also featured below.

Peter Laban has been beavering away in Co. Clare over the past few months as ITMA’s inaugural photographer-in-residence. He has been preparing images for donation to ITMA, and in the first of three galleries we give you a preview of this wonderful addition to our Images Collection.

Peter describes these images as a “random selection” but he did pick out two particular images in a nod to recent pandemic times.

The final two images were picked on purpose. Tony Linnane and Danny Mahoney were the last concert before the lockdowns. Covid was looming and nobody knew what to expect, things were just new and uncertain. … Sorcha bookends the lockdowns nicely, emerging happily from that phase.

The Irish Traditional Music Archive documents contemporary Irish traditional music activity as keenly as it acquires historical material, and every year since 1993 its staff has carried out field-recording at various festivals throughout the country, as well as on other occasions. Recordings are made in audio and video formats, and are made available to the general public for reference access and study within the Archive.

In the last year or so ITMA Field-Recordings Officer Danny Diamond has been supplementing the audio and video field-recordings made by himself and other staff by also photographing singers, musicians and dancers, in his own time. A selection of these photographs, taken during recording trips in the first half of 2010, is presented here. They come from the Frankie Kennedy Winter School in Gweedore, Co Donegal, in January; the Inishowen Folk Song and Ballad Seminar, Co Donegal, in March; Sean-Nós Cois Life, Dublin, in April; and the Willie Clancy Summer School, Co Clare, in July.

For further examples of Danny Diamond’s photography, see his website www.dannydiamond.ie.

With thanks to Danny Diamond and to the traditional performers here who are the subjects of his photographs.

Nichols Carolan & Danny Diamond, 1 August 2010

A little-known component of the Irish Traditional Music Archive multimedia collections is its unique collection of small artefacts relating to Irish traditional music, items which arise from musical and dancing activity. ITMA views them as a natural, though secondary, part of the general culture of the music and dance.

The selection of artefacts presented here mostly consists of tourist trinkets and souvenirs, gifts for children, or by-products of the promotion of music groups and music venues. In the case of dancing dolls, they can form part of actual music performance. Common artefacts also held in the ITMA collections, but not presented here, are t-shirts, bags, calendars and stickers.

With thanks to donors Jim Carroll & Pat Mackenzie (dancing doll made by Norfolk traditional singer Walter Pardon, a tradition common to Britain and Ireland), Bill Ochs (Rogue beer bottle), and Tom Sherlock (Altan teddy bear). ITMA would always welcome donations of similar items.

Nicholas Carolan & Treasa Harkin, 1 June 2014