Even though Séamus O’Mahony lived to reach the grand old age of 91, his name is seldom mentioned in discussions on fiddle playing in Ireland. There are several reasons for this: O’Mahony did not make solo commercial recordings and he grew increasingly reluctant to perform in public or commit to broadcasts in the mid-twentieth century. However, the quality of his fiddle playing evident on the following tracks may prompt the question “How could a musician this good be forgotten?” 

My name is Deirdre McGrory and I am twenty-years old. I am from Culdaff, Inishowen in the North of Donegal. Luckily enough I have been brought up in a musical family and lived across the road from a legendary music venue, which at the time was in ownership of my father, aunt and uncle. This exposure to music over time played a huge part in my choices for the future and choice of University. 

Project Archivist, Fionnuala Parfrey, reports on ITMA’s current digital preservation project

Explore Your Archive is an annual campaign sponsored by the Archives and Records Associations (ARA). The goal is to promote the archival collections held by organisations like ITMA and help users to find out about some of the incredible resources that exist on their doorsteps (both virtual and real). For seven days in November, we posted highlight from ITMA’s digital collections on social media. This blog brings all of our posts together in one spot to help you “explore your archive.”

On Thursday, 20 June 2018 at 7pm, poet Mary O’Malley and uilleann piper Tommy Keane are taking the stage in Poetry Ireland to explore the oblique angles and intersections between words, sounds, and people. Discover what's in store through examples of Mary and Tommy's poetry and music.

At the Willie Clancy Summer School 2018, ITMA and TG4 launched a collaborative project that showcases some of the best voices in Irish traditional music. This year, TG4 made available the video broadcasts of all the annual TG4 Gradam Ceoil awards ceremonies since 1998 and ITMA identified the names of each tune, song, and performer featured in 20 years of award programmes. Cathal Goan, ex-head of TG4 and ex-chairman of the board of ITMA, launched the new archival website. 

On Thursday, 20 June 2018 at 7pm, poet Mary O’Malley and uilleann piper Tommy Keane are taking the stage in Poetry Ireland to explore the oblique angles and intersections between words, sounds, and people. Discover what might be in store through examples of Mary and Tommy's poetry and music.

In March 2018, the Archives and Records Association of Scotland challenged archives from around the world to get to know each other a bit better. They suggested taking to Twitter and posting on a different theme everyday, all Starting on April 1, ITMA took up this challenge with a series of tweets 

Thursday, 26 April 2018 is Poetry Day Ireland: a one-day festival that is all about celebrating Irish poetry. And this year the theme is Poetry Surprises. It's about the unexpected ways that the words, music, and rhythm of poetry enable us to see ourselves and our worlds. Thursday, 26 April 2018 is also the date for the second of ITMA and Poetry Ireland's 'Soul Clap Its Hands and Sing' events. Join us in Poetry Ireland's Parnell Square premises at 8pm to revel in poetry and music brought to life by Kevin Doherty and John McAuliffe.

In October 2017, Alan Woods travelled to the Ballinasloe Horse Fair (also known as the Ballinasloe October Fair) on behalf of the Irish Traditional Music Archive to give a presentation on the history of ballad sheets and street singing in Ireland.In this blog post he will detail how he went from library to lecture using the ITMA collection in his research and preparation.

The staff at ITMA are putting the spotlight on female voices for International Women's Day. Read, listen, and watch a few of our favourite selections from the ITMA collection!

Rhythm. Meter. Form. Accent. Art. Musicians often hear the advice that they should let their instruments sing. Singers cannot practise their art without words. And often a poet's text is incomplete without the sound of human utterance. During 2018 Poetry Ireland and ITMA are joining forces to explore the space where poetry and music intersect.

Dublin’s Opera Theatre Company recently revived the first Irish-language opera, Robert O’Dwyer’s Eithne. Although Eithne was well-received by contemporary critics for its contribution to the Gaelic revival movement and as an attempt to establish a national opera tradition, the opera has been mysteriously forgotten for over a century. In celebration of the long-overdue revival, ITMA has delved into its resources to uncover the historical background of the piece.

Four sort-a-thon events have brought volunteers into ITMA since the summer. Two more events are scheduled for November.

Over the past 18 months we have been working closely with Red Dog to develop a new visual identity for ITMA. Managing Director at Red Dog, Mary Doherty, has been kind enough to put together her reflections on what has been a new and inspiring process for us here in the Irish Traditional Music Archive.