The Irish Traditional Music Archive greatly regrets the recent death in Belfast of Ciaran Carson, a founding Board member of the Archive in 1987, at the age of 70.

As part of the DAP Project, ITMA is creating authority records for the performers and contributors who feature in the non-commercial sound and video collections. Fionnuala Parfrey shares some interesting behind-the-scenes observations.

Is mór an onóir dom a bheith ag tosú mar Stiúrthóir sa Taisce Cheol Dúchais Éireann. Thosaigh mé i mbun oibre leis an bhfoireann anseo ar an Luan seo caite. To serve the public as Director of the Irish Traditional Music Archive is a huge honour and privilege for me. 

Earlier in the Summer, a blog* by Project Archivist Fionnuala Parfrey took us behind the scenes as ITMA embarked on a major Digital Audio/visual Preservation Project – DAP.  Fionnuala continues the story.

At the ITMA AGM held on 9 July 2019 in Co. Clare, the Board of ITMA and Director Grace Toland launched a new Strategic Plan for the organisation. 

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.

Music Network (MN) and The Irish Traditional Music Archive (ITMA) are offering an opportunity for a professional sound or visual artist to create an installation work, using as its inspiration the historically significant harp tunes collected in 1792 by Edward Bunting. 

Today marked the launch of the Linked Irish Traditional Music (LITMUS) project at ITMA. Led by ITMA Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow Dr Lynnsey Weissenberger, the LITMUS project was an ambitious, 2-year undertaking to take Irish traditional music and dance into the cultural heritage linked data landscape. 

The Board of the Irish Traditional Music Archive (ITMA) is delighted to announce the appointment of Liam O’Connor as the next Director of ITMA. He will take up office in late August. The current Director Grace Toland, who announced that she was stepping down this year, is to stay with the organisation in a new role. 

Is méala mór do Thaisce Cheol Dúchais Éireann gur cailleadh le déanaí Liam Mac an Iomaire (1937–2019), iar-bhall de Bhord na Taisce, ar an gCarraig Dhubh, Co. Bhaile Átha Cliath, in aois a 81.

Grace Toland, Director of ITMA, has announced that she intends to step down from her current role with effect from late Summer 2019