Almost two years ago on Thursday, 20 June 2018, poet Mary O’Malley and uilleann piper Tommy Keane took part in the live ITMA/Poetry Ireland series "Soul Clap Its Hands and Sing".  To celebrate Poetry Day Ireland 2020, Mary & Tommy have generously given permission to share the reading of 'Ixion Stopped Tony Mc Mahon Plays Raglan Road' and the playing of Fáinne Geal an Lae.

COVID-19 has accelerated our relationship with the digital world with remarkable speed. Online sessions and performances are fast becoming a daily feature of our lives.  However a landmark digital project launched in 2012 by ITMA and the Inishowen Traditional Singers' Circle in Donegal has had, and continues to have, a profound influence on many singers and researchers, no more than on Berlin-based singer Andreas Schulz. 

Tomás Ó Canainn's (1930-2013) contribution to the traditional arts in Ireland manifested itself in a remarkable array of outputs, as an uilleann piper, accordion player, singer, poet, writer, composer, researcher and lecturer.  In November 2019, the Ó Canainn Family contacted ITMA with the generous news that Tomás' archival legacy was to become part of the national collection. 

The uilleann piper Patsy Touhey was the most celebrated Irish traditional musician of his day. Born in Ireland in 1865, he flourished in the USA as a professional entertainer and became a prime mover of the Gaelic music revival in the States. Today his music is a byword for unsurpassed virtuosity.

On 24 March 2020, ITMA posted images and a short note about Pádraig O’Keeffe manuscripts on Facebook. This re-opened a lovely conversation with Paud and Denis Collins from Knocknagoshel, Co Kerry who had donated the collection to ITMA in 2013.

Transition Year 2020 brought another wonderful young traditional music student through our doors in February. As well as practical archiving experience with staff, we guided Emer, the harper, to the online Stephen Grier Manuscript Collection. Emer takes up the story of her time in ITMA ...

A guest blog from Colombian harper Emmanuel Rivera Angel.  Emmanuel is studying for an MA in Musiclogy and Performance in Maynooth University and spent time in ITMA researching and presenting this blog as part of his coursework.

A joint project between TG4 and ITMA provides visitors to the TG4 website with each programme from the annual TG4 Gradam Ceoil award ceremonies since 1998.  ITMA has identified the names of all the tunes, songs, and performers featured in each programme. The result of our collaborative archiving efforts, Cartlann Ghradam Ceoil, was launched at the Willie Clancy Summer School 2018 by Cathal Goan former Director of TG4 and former Chairperson of ITMA.

Music, song, dance, merriment and drinking have been synonymous with the celebration of St. Patrick by Irish people all over the world for many centuries. This year most parades will be cancelled owing to the COVID-19 virus and thousands of musicians will not have the same opportunities to perform the tune most commonly associated with the annual celebrations St. Patrick’s Day. In this blog ITMA Director Liam O'Connor will look into the history of the well-known melody. It is certainly not intended as a comprehensive or definitive account as currently there are 964 references to it in ITMA’s catalogue and not all of them can be accessed at present! 

2020 sees a Saint Patrick's Day that we could scarcely have imagined. Wherever you are we hope you will enjoy this tribute in song, dance and image from the Staff at ITMA. Stay safe and well.

ITMA staff members Maeve Gebruers, Róisín Conlon, Grace Toland, Alan Woods, Treasa Harkin and Liam O'Connor are striking the pose for International Women's Day 2020 and shining a light on inspirational women they have encountered in the tradition.

A guest blog from Cork piano accordion player Sophie Cahalane.  Sophie is studying for an MA in Musiclogy in Maynooth University and spent time in ITMA researching and presenting this blog as part of her coursework.

January 2020 saw the launch of a new initiative from ITMA: the addition of a ‘visiting researcher’ as part of the Pop-Up Archive programme. Kara O'Brien a PhD student at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance (IWAMD) at the University of Limerick was the inaugural ITMA Pop-up researcher. Kara kindly takes us on her research journey.

During February, ITMA had the pleasure of welcoming its first Transition Year (TY) students for 2020 through its doors. TY is a one-year programme for second-level students in Ireland which includes an opportunity to experience working life, and help with subject choices for the Leaving Certificate cycle.  During the week the group was mentored by ITMA Assistant Librarian Róisín Conlon. After a week in ITMA she asked musicians Niamh McGrattan, fiddle, Aoileann O’Connor, fiddle, Naoise Ní Ghríofa, concertina, and Róisín Ní Chasaide, fiddle, to recount their personal highlights, and the collaborative projects they undertook, including recording a tune for Mary Bergin! 

Stephen Grier (c.1824–1894), a native of north Longford, moved to Newpark, Bohey, Gortletteragh, in south Leitrim in 1852. An uilleann piper and fiddle player, he compiled a collection of over 1,000 melodies, transcribed mainly in the 1880s.