Irish Traditional Music Archive

Taisce Cheol Dúchais Éireann

Getting to Hear Irish Traditional Music

The best way to get to hear Irish traditional song and instrumental music is to live in one of the many areas in the country where the music is to be heard as a natural part of daily life. Songs and instrumental melodies with associated dances can be experienced in musical homes, clubs and public houses, and occasionally at local concerts, competitions and festivals. If you are interested, the ordinary round of living will bring you into contact with the singers, musicians and dancers of the locality.

But even in these areas there will be a degree of specialisation in the music – fiddle playing will predominate, or flute playing, or singing in Irish, and so on – and to experience certain kinds of Irish traditional music you will have to go to other sources. Or if you live in one of the areas in the country in which traditional music is rare, you will probably have to seek it out elsewhere. Fortunately, there are nowadays many ways of hearing traditional music, both live and recorded.

Live Music
In many parts of the country informal 'sessions', or mixed gatherings of musicians performing for their own enjoyment, take place on a weekly or more frequent basis in particular venues open to the public, such as public houses, hotels, or clubs. Admission is usually free but sometimes there is a nominal charge. Occasionally these are advertised in the local press, but word-of-mouth enquiries in the locality will probably yield more information.

The same types of venue – especially in areas where tourism is important – will also house more organised performances intended to attract patrons to the other facilities of the venue. The performances may be by one or two musicians, or in hotels especially by cabaret groups. These are advertised locally, and offices of Fáilte Ireland (the Irish tourist board) will usually have information on them. The more elaborate presentations will have an admission charge.

Concerts of traditional music, or including traditional music, are commonly held throughout the country. These are advertised widely and will have an admission charge. Occasionally public recitals by one or two performers are held by non-commercial sponsors such as the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, (University of Limerick tel. +353-61-202590) and Na Píobairí Uilleann (the society of uilleann pipers), (15 Henrietta Street, Dublin 1, tel. +353-1-8730093). The Music Network (Coach House, Dublin Castle, Dublin 2, tel. +353-1-6719429) and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland (181a Stranmillis Road, Belfast BT9 5DU, Northern Ireland, tel. +N.I.-1232-381591) organise periodic tours by small groups of performers.

Live music can also be heard at annual festivals held at various locations throughout the country. These range from informal weekends such as the William Kennedy Piping Festival, Armagh (held in November, tel. +44-28-37511248) to the structured week-long Willie Clancy Summer School in Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare (held in July, tel. +353-65-7084148). An tOireachtas, an Irish- language festival held at different venues around October, is especially noted for its public competitions of traditional singing in Irish. Details, including those of instrumental competitions, are available from the festival office at 6 Harcourt Street, Dublin 2 (tel. +353-1-4753857).

Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (the association of Irish musicians) has branches throughout Ireland, and abroad, at which music can be heard regularly. It also organises a large number of competitive regional music festivals, or fleadhanna ceoil, throughout the country, culminating in the annual all-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann; and also concerts, seisiúin or cabarets, tours by music groups, and other activities. Details can be had from CCÉ's headquarters at 32 Belgrave Square, Monkstown, Co Dublin (tel. +353-1-2800295).

Recorded Music
Currently available commercial sound recordings – especially CDs – contain a great variety of traditional music,and selections are available in most record shops. Ceirníní Cladaigh / Claddagh Records, 2 Cecilia Street, Dublin 2 (tel.+353-1- 6778943), and The Living Tradition, 45a MacCurtain Street, Cork (tel.+353-21-4502564), are among companies offering a specialised mail-order service. Many others will be found throught the Internet. Guides to historic recordings (mainly of now obsolete LPs and casettes) include

Aodán Ó Dubhghaill, A Guide to Irish Folk and Traditional Music on LPs, 1986, supplement 1987 (published by RTÉ, Donnybrook, Dublin 4, tel. +353-1-2083111)

Nicholas Carolan, A Short Discography of Irish Folk Music, 1987 (published by the Folk Music Society of Ireland,15 Henrietta Street, Dublin 1, tel. +353-1-873 0093)

Deborah L. Schaeffer, Irish Folk Music: A Selected Discography, 1989 (published by Greenwood Press, New York).

Most local public libraries now carry some stock of commercial recordings of traditional music which are available to borrowers. Some libraries specialise in local material. Consult the Directory of Libraries and Information Services in Ireland, 5th ed.1996 (available from the Library Association of Ireland, 53 Upper Mount Street, Dublin 2, tel. +353-1-6761167).

Out-of-print commercial recordings and field recordings can be heard by the public in the archives of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, the Department of Irish Folklore (University College Dublin, St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, tel. +353-1-706 7497), Na Píobairí Uilleann, the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum (Cultra Manor, Holywood, Co Down, Northern Ireland, tel.+N.I.-1232-428428), and the Irish Traditional Music Archive.

Traditional music is also to be heard fairly frequently on radio, and occasionally on television. For current programmes on Raidió Teilifís Éireann (radio and television), and TG4 (Irish-language national television), and Raidió na Gaeltachta, consult the weekly RTÉ Guide; for BBC Northern Ireland (radio and television), the Radio Times; for Ulster Television, the TV Guide.

Live and recorded Irish traditional music can also be heard outside Ireland, particularly in centres of Irish settlement in Britain, Australia and the United States, but occasionally too in Germany, France and other countries. Enthusiasts will have to depend for information on word-of-mouth, record shops and libraries, specialist radio programmes, the Irish emigrant press and social centres, and email discussion groups.

A note on listening: remember that what you hear will not all be of the same quality. Traditional audiences have various criteria by which they judge performances. Only experience will enable you to develop your taste and recognize valuable features in accordance with these traditional 'rules'.

No 2 of a series of information leaflets. These leaflets were published in 1996 and therefore have some information which is no longer current. Updated versions of these leaflets will be made available on the website in due course.