The videos presented here from the collections of the Irish Traditional Music Archive were recorded at a sean-nós (old-style) dancing competition held in the local community hall in Ráth Chairn, Co Meath, on New Year’s Eve, 1996. The adjudicator was Máire Mhic Aogáin of Dublin, and the winner was Seosamh Ó Neachtain of An Spidéal, Conamara. The area of Ráth Chairn, with Baile Ghib, forms a gaeltacht or Irish-speaking district near the town of Navan, one with a strong traditional culture and with particular links to Conamara. This Co Meath gaeltacht was created by the Irish government in the 1930s by the distribution of large landlord estates to migrant farmers from counties Galway, Mayo and Kerry.

The videos were recorded for ITMA by Seán Corcoran of Drogheda. As is the case with all ITMA field recordings, they eavesdrop on the proceedings and are careful not to interfere with their natural course. We think that the musicians belong to the Esker Riada Ceili Band, but have been unable to confirm this as yet.

Buíochas do na damhsóirí as ucht cead a thabhairt na físeáin a fhoilsiú anseo, do Seán Corcoran, agus do Ann Ní Dhonnchadha, Comharchumann Ráth Chairn, as ucht a cabhrach/ With thanks to the dancers for permission to carry the recordings of their performances here, to Seán Corcoran, and to Ann Ní Dhonnchadha of Comharchumann Ráth Chairn for her help.

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

Denis Cox (Donnchadh Mac Coiligh, c. 1882—1962) first came to public notice as a prizewinner in the Feis Ceoil platform competitions of the 1920s, specialising in songs in Irish, and he enjoyed success also at feiseanna throughout Ireland in the same decade. Born in Trim, Co Meath, he spent most of his life in Dublin where he established a successful recital career. A natural baritone sometimes billed as a tenor, he went on to study classical singing and undertake concert tours in Britain, Germany and Italy. He made a short singing film for the Pathé Company and in 1934 represented Ireland at the World Fair in Chicago. Cox taught ‘Gaelic’ singing in the Municipal College of Music in Dublin from 1945, and performed songs in Irish and national songs in English frequently on Radio Éireann until the late 1950s.

From 1928 Denis Cox recorded extensively in London for the Parlophone Record Company, in Irish and English, and some of these recordings continued to be issued into the 1950s. About 1936 he recorded also in English for the Beltona Company. His songs in Irish were the subject of a special Parlophone marketing drive in 1933, when the company published a booklet of the texts of the songs in Irish he had recorded (see related material below).

Cox was generally described by newspapers as an ‘Irish traditional singer’ at a time when sean-nós Gaeltacht singers rarely got a public hearing, and he was even accepted as a traditional singer by the organisers of 1950s fleadhanna ceoil concerts. He was in fact a classically trained singer of traditional songs with a well developed stagecraft and a winning personality, who performed normally with piano or orchestral accompaniment. In his singing in Irish he belonged to a Gaelic League concert tradition of accompanied singing that had grown up since the 1890s.

See also Denis Cox, Songs in Irish in Print, 1933 below.

Do you have other Denis Cox recordings or less worn copies of the Irish Traditional Music Archive recordings presented here? ITMA would welcome their donation or the opportunity to copy them.

With thanks to record donors Vincent Duffe, Reg Hall, John Loesberg, Bernard Sexton, Áine Sotscheck, Geoffrey C. White, & the Franciscan Order, St Clare’s Convent, Harold’s Cross, Dublin, per Sr Mairéad Ní Fhearáin.

Nicholas Carolan & Danny Diamond, 1 August 2009

Concertina player, dancer and composer Caitlín Nic Gabhann is a regular performer nationally and internationally. A former troupe dancer with Riverdance, her compositions have been performed in the Cork Opera House and NCH. She has performed with the RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet, Paddy Keenan, Liam Ó Maonlaí, and at ‘Ceiliúradh’ in the Royal Albert Hall as a guest of President Michael D. Higgins. Her debut solo CD release “Caitlín” was labelled the “top Irish traditional album of 2012” by The Wall Street Journal.

Caitlín is currently concentrating on musical collaborations with the award-winning fiddle player and documentary maker, Ciarán Ó Maonaigh. She is also involved as musician and dancer with bands NicGaviskey, Birkin Tree, The Irish Concertina Ensemble and original theatre production Mag Mell.