John Moulden

Hello, my name is Stephanie, and for the next three months I am the project archivist for the Cullinane Archive Collection (CAC) at ITMA. Time flies and I can’t believe it’s only been 3 weeks since I started, so much has happened already!

ITMA was delighted to hear in April 2022 that it had been awarded a Community Heritage Grant from the Heritage Council for its project “Physical to Digital: A Complete Scanning Solution for the Irish Traditional Music Archive.” This funding has enabled ITMA to purchase a state-of-the-art specialised large format archival scanning system.

"From the Bridge: a view of Irish music in New York" has been richly enhanced by video footage recorded by Terry Rafferty in New York between 1986 and 2002. Married to Mike Rafferty (1926–2011), a hugely influential east Galway flute player, Terry attended most of Mike's music gatherings and decided to record as many as possible on video. In this blog their daughter Mary shares some personal background to Terry's unique contribution to traditional music collecting in New York.

This guest blog was written by Orla Dillon, a student on the Masters in Musicology at Maynooth University. As part of her course Orla completed a five-week internship in ITMA and undertook the task of listing Northern Irish harper Derek Bell’s previously unlisted and unexplored manuscripts of classical compositions, donated as part of the Derek Bell Collection.

This guest blog was written by Laura Mannion, a student on the Masters in Musicology at Maynooth University. As part of her course Laura completed a five-week internship in ITMA and worked with ITMA staff to prepare a digital version of the 2nd edition of A selection of Irish traditional step dances by Michael Tubridy. In the process, she also conducted an interview with Michael about his life and music.

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

Celebrating International Women's Day 2022

A monthly series showcasing compositions of tunes by contemporary composers in the traditional idiom.

ITMA's photographer-in-residence 2021, Peter Laban, is not a Clare native but has spent many years living and working in the county. He is a piper and has perfomed with many Clare musicians, notably Kitty Linnane. He regularly attends musical events in his local area and has been quietly documenting Clare's musical life over the past two decades. The photographs in this latest gallery were all taken within a five mile radius of his home. A selection from the gallery, along with Peter's own thoughts on the images are available below, while the gallery itself can be viewed in the Digital Library.

Another series of compositions commissioned by the Rolling Wave on RTÉ Radio and supported by ITMA. The first series of Faoiseamh involved 10 composers and the tunes that they had composed during the 2020 lockdown. This second series features another 10 composers, who between them have submitted 17 tunes to the project. The tunes on this page will be broadcast on the Rolling Wave on RTÉ Radio on Sunday 5 December, with the remaining tunes to follow on Sunday 12 December. The Rolling Wave is presented and produced by Aoife Nic Cormaic.The Rolling Wave, RTÉ Radio 1, every Sunday at 9pm