The Illustrated London News (ILN) was the world’s first illustrated weekly newspaper and was first published on Saturday, 14 May 1842. Published by Herbert Ingram, this Victorian publication reached a weekly circulation of over 300,000 copies, bringing news to life with detailed woodcut engravings depicting personalities and events of the day. Success brought other competitors to the market and in 1869, former ILN engraver William Luson Thomas launched The Graphic. These newspapers now provide the modern reader with a visual record of history including events relating to Ireland, and an insight into Victorian perceptions of the Irish.

We have digitised a selection of these illustrations taken from ITMA’s own newspaper collections.  These were published between 1844 and 1893 and depict or include Irish music, song, dance or musical instruments. Political parades featuring marching bands; banners & flags bearing a symbolic harp; St. Patrick’s Day celebrations; dancers and ballad singers as well as well-known musical figures such as Thomas Moore & George Petrie are among the selected images. Some are of a journalistic nature while others betray a more caricaturist approach to the depiction of the Irish during the 19th century.

The Illustrated London News ceased publication in 2003 and The Graphic in 1932.

Liam O’Flynn / Ó Floinn (1945–2018), internationally renowned virtuoso uilleann piper and whistle player, was a native of Cill, Co. Kildare. He was long known as Liam Óg, having been named after his fiddle player father Liam, headmaster of Cill national school. With family and musical connections to Tralee, Co. Kerry, and to Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare, Liam was recognised early on as a more than talented piper. He took lessons from Leo Rowsome in Dublin, and later played with and was influenced by Willie Clancy and Seamus Ennis. But in time, he developed his own highly individual rock-steady, perfectly pitched style of mixed open and tight piping — piping expressed in solidly rhythmic dance tunes and in sweeping airs. Never losing contact with his traditional roots, he began a long series of music collaborations in 1972 with Christy Moore, Dónal Lunny, and Andy Irvine, as members of the innovative group Planxty. Through Planxty, Liam’s piping came to international as well as national attention, and brought a whole generation to uilleann piping. In the 1980s, he embarked as a solo piper with orchestral accompaniment on an original series of compositions by Shaun Davey, the best known being The Brendan Voyage. In the late 1990s, he formed his band The Piper’s Call; together they made one of his many recordings on the Tara label. He played on numerous film scores, and worked with experimental composers such as John Cage, popular singers such as Kate Bush, and fellow traditional musicians such as fiddle player Paddy Glackin. With the poet Seamus Heaney, he developed The Poet and the Piper, an occasional and much admired stage performance. In 2007, Liam was awarded the TG4 ‘Ceoltóir na Bliana’ Gradam Ceoil. He also served on the ITMA Board.

The Liam O’Flynn Collection at ITMA

Liam O’Flynn collated a vast personal archive over his 50 year career. This precious collection was donated to ITMA by Liam’s wife, Jane, after his untimely death in March 2018, ensuring his legacy is preserved for present and future generations. Liam O’ Flynn’s legacy flourishes in this magnificent collection and is inspiring on multiple levels. The opportunity to ‘Draw from the Well’ at ITMA has been a magical and unforgettable journey into the music, life and times of one of Ireland’s most influential pipers, Liam O’Flynn.

I spent much of the summer of 2020 exploring the Liam O’Flynn Collection at 73 Merrion Square and the journey was incredibly inspiring in so many ways. ‘Drawing from the Well’ has given me the opportunity to connect with the personal collection of Liam O’Flynn and has allowed me to gain a very special and rare insight into the ideologies, key reflections, influences, music and life of one of Ireland’s most iconic pipers. Without doubt, this is a collection I look forward to revisiting time and time again.

Liam composed the jig titled, ‘The Piper’s Stone’ having being inspired by this ancient site and area of incredible beauty in Co. Kildare. One of my ‘Drawing from the Well’ highlightswas a visit to The Piper’s Stone organised by ITMA. The visit was very special and memorable and it was wonderful to meet Jane O’Flynn, Liam’s wife at the source of the inspiration of this composition. Jane gave us a rare insight into Liam’s sources of inspiration and musical life, and the day concluded with a visit to Liam’s home and music room. As one can imagine in any musician’s life this was a truly unforgettable day and I will treasure these memories for many years to come.

Sunset

For me there is something very special in the light of a long summer’s evening which can create a great sense of calm. This tune was inspired by such an evening in the west of Ireland culminating in a magical and breathtaking sunset over the Atlantic Ocean.

Liam O’Flynn

The Return of the Pedalboard

This tune concerns a cantankerous and unpredictable piece of electronic equipment which belongs to that great musician and friend Arty McGlynn. On more than one occasion on stage it has caused its owner great distress and the rest of us great amusement. So when it went missing after a trip abroad all seemed safe and well. But, unbelievably, it re-appeared soon after – delivered safely home by a returning musician. A new tune seemed the only response!

Liam O’Flynn

Compositions of other musicians are included in the collection including the reel ‘Barr na Cúille’ composed by Néillidh Mulligan. A hand-written transcription and note by uilleann piper Néillidh Mulligan accompanies the tune. Liam requested the tune having heard Néillidh play it in The Cobblestone in Dublin.

ITMA presents singer, songwriter, musician Christy Moore in the first episode of a new series SAOITHE, featuring in-depth conversations with seven of Ireland’s leading tradition bearers.

Christy Moore is a singer and songwriter, born in Newbridge, Co. Kildare, to Andy Moore from that town, and Neans de Paor of Yellow Furze, Navan.. From his mother he learned to sing, and became absorbed in rock ’n’ roll initially, then was deeply moved by the Clancy Brothers. He learned guitar in 1961 from Dónal Lunny, and while still in his teens he formed with him a duo, The Rakes of Kildare. He worked briefly in the Bank of Ireland, but left during the strike of 1966 to tour folk clubs in England, during his stay there recording his first album, Paddy on the Road, with Dominic Behan as producer.

Out of Ireland he was influenced by music heard in pubs in Fulham, Camden Town, Cricklewood, Moss Side, Glasgow and Blairgowrie. Singers John Reilly, Luke Kelly, Ewan MacColl, Martin Carthy, Hamish Imlach, Joe Heaney and Annie Briggs also influenced him. Planxty. He returned to Ireland in 1971, and recorded Prosperous, released in 1972. With three of the musicians who played on that album – Liam O’Flynn, Dónal Lunny and Andy Irvine – he formed the group Planxty, the most popular band of the 1970s. When they split in 1975 he pursued a solo career; they re-formed in 1978, but within a few years Moore and Lunny had left to form Moving Hearts. He left after that band’s second album and developed a successful solo career, playing to huge audiences at home and abroad.

An uncompromisingly political singer, Moore has espoused such causes as the Carnsore Point anti nuclear protest, H-Block hunger strikes and the lot of the ordinary worker. His lyrics are intense, rhythmical in a ‘talking blues’ style, and when not (as sometimes), bitingly sarcastic, moralistic, sentimental or angry, can radiate an intense humorous understatement. Other members of the Moore family are involved in music. Brother Barry performs as ‘Luka Bloom’, nephew Conor Byrne plays flute (album Wind Dancer). Moore performed on all of Planxty’s recordings and on Moving Hearts (1982) and The Dark End of the Street (1982) with Moving Hearts. By 2009 he had recorded twenty-six solo albums, as well as six with Planxty and two with Moving Hearts. Although Moore retired from public performance in 1998, like many others he returns to the stage intermittently.

In 1994 Hummingbird recorded Christy, a documentary for RTÉ on his life and music, and another, Live at the Point, in 2006. His choice of songs, including his own lyrics, are recorded in Frank Connolly’s 1984 Th e Christy Moore Songbook, and his own autobiographical One Voice in 2000.

Sandie Purcell is a composer, fiddle player and primary school teacher from Kill in Co. Kildare.. Sandie began learning the fiddle with Mary Greevy at the age of seven and composing followed just a couple of years later. In 1996, at the age of thirteen, Sandie won the IMRO Composition Award with the jig “The Crooked Picture” which she performed at the Hawk’s Well Theatre in Sligo.

Sandie holds a BMUS from DIT Conservatory of Music where she was taught the fiddle by Kevin Glackin and whistle by Paul McGettrick and Peter Browne. Sandie took Composition as a specialist subject and was supervised by Dr. Grainne Mulvey. Sandie also holds an MA in Composition from DCU.

During her time working at Na Píobairí Uilleann from 2008 to 2013, Sandie began playing the uilleann pipes under the tutelage of Gay McKeon. Her interest in piping music was ignited and in 2014 Sandie was commissioned by Dublin City Council to compose a piping work to commemorate The Battle of Clontarf. It was performed by the renowned piper Mark Redmond and a short film of the piece was made by Warrior Films Ireland. Sandie then completed a HDIP in Primary Education in Marino Institute of Education and has been teaching in Scoil Mhuire Junior School, Newbridge, Co. Kildare since 2015. She also teaches the fiddle and performs and composes regularly.

Sandie’s publications include the tune-book 101 Original Compositions of Irish Traditional Music by Sandie Purcell (2007), which was supported by the Arts Council and a CD of original tunes and songs by the band Reelan, who formed for the making of the album The Crooked Picture in 2008. Sandie’s tunes have also appeared in Na Píobairí Uilleann’s publication An Píobaire which is distributed to over 70 countries worldwide and “The Indignant Muse, Poetry and Songs of the Irish Revolution 1887-1926”, edited by Terry Moylan.

Sandie has been composing and publishing tunes for many years, and this is reflected in her selection below. Quite a few of the tunes come from her ‘Lockdown Project’ – regularly composing and publishing tunes to Facebook and YouTube during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Compositions

1. Can’t help the fool [comp. Sandie Purcell], jig
2. Cornflower meadow [comp. Sandie Purcell], polka
3. Glending [comp. Sandie Purcell], reel
4. New time [comp. Sandie Purcell], march
5. Skinny malinks malarky [comp. Sandie Purcell], hornpipe
6. St Patrick’s fire [comp. Sandie Purcell], reel
7. Tangled wood [comp. Sandie Purcell], slip jig
8. The half-empty hornpipe [comp. Sandie Purcell]
9. The wedding of Durrow [comp. Sandie Purcell], air
10. The white owl [comp. Sandie Purcell], jig