Links

The internet can be a wonderful place, but we’d caution you to exercise good judgement before accepting everything you read. Sources for Irish traditional tunes, for example, might contain tune settings that aren’t “quite right” according to most musicians, though they can be a great place to start. And of course, these are links to sites not maintained by Comhaltas, so we can’t take any responsibility for the content!

We do our best to keep these links current, but if you do find a broken link we’d appreciate a note to let us know: webmaster@comhaltas.com. Similarly, if you know of a site that you think ought to be included here, please tell us!

Festivals and Schools

• Catskills Irish Arts Week Photos

  Images by the fine photographer Tim Raab. He has captured the Comhaltas Catskills Irish Arts Week 2005 and 2006 with an artistic eye and a great appreciation of detail.

• Ceardlann Earraigh

  Established by the Kildare County Board of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, Ceardlann Earraigh features some of Ireland’s greatest musicians for workshops during the day and a “Grand Concert” at night.

• Douglas Hyde Summer School of Traditional Music

  Dr. Douglas Hyde was Professor of Irish at U.C.D. and President of Ireland from 1939 - 1945. This Summer School of music, song and dance, is a continuation of the work begun by Hyde over one hundred years ago.

• Eigse Mrs. Crotty Festival

  Eigse Mrs. Crotty 2007, now in its 12th year is a five day celebration of the life and music of one of the outstanding figures of traditional Irish music which is held in Kilrush, Co. Clare. Mrs. Crotty was a pioneer of the Fleadh Cheoil movement and was elected the first President of Comhaltas in Clare, a position she held until she died.

• Feis Rois Scottish Folk Festival

  Fèis is a Gaelic word meaning festival. Fèis Rois stages three Fèisean: the Junior and Senior Fèisean are residential 5-day festivals taking place during school holidays, while the Adult Fèis takes place over a long weekend. Recognising the importance of maintaining and fostering inherent Scottish Highland culture, Fèis Rois began in Ullapool in 1986 to provide a platform for the tuition and performance of traditional music, song and dance in Ross and Cromarty.

• Fiddler’s Retreat

  The website of Theresa Bourke’s Fiddlers Retreat, the first and only school of its kind in Ireland that runs a Traditional Irish Music and Culture School. Whether you are a musician or simply a music lover there is a course for you at Fiddlers Retreat.

• Irish Harp Centre

  The Irish Harp Centre, home of the Irish or Celtic Harp, its crusading Harper Dr. Janet Harbison, the Grammy Award winning Irish Harp Orchestra, and The National Harp Orchestra. The Irish Harp Centre is located in Castleconnell Ireland, in the heart of Celtic Western Ireland and hosts year round activities including harp workshops, summer schools, The Apprentice Programme, Entertainer, Music Therapy & Church Music Training, and Harp Tuition with Janet Harbison.

• James Morrison Festival of Sligo

  Every year, towards the end of July or the beginning of August, the beautiful village of Riverstown plays host to the The James Morrison Traditional Music Festival. The Festival commemorates the musical genius of Sligo’s James Morrison and his contemporaries. Born in Drumfin near Riverstown 1893, emigrated to America in 1915, James died in New York in 1947.

• Mesquer Irish Traditional Music Convention

  An Irish music session event in Mesquer, France.

• Micho Russel Memorial Weekend

  Organised by the Doolin community, the festival is a landmark on the traditional festival calendar as one of the earliest festivals of the year. It also hosts some of the best of traditional entertainment and attracts musicians from around the country. The annual traditional festival held in Doolin falling on the weekend of the last Friday in February began in 1995 as a remembrance ceremony to Micho Russell, the world-famous traditional musician, who died in 1994.

• Queen Maeve Traditional Music School

  The Queen Maeve International Summer School of Irish Music and Song, held in Sligo Town, Ireland. Classes held daily in Tin Whistle; Flute; Traditonal Singing; Button Accordion; Piano Accordion; and Fiddle.

• Riverside Celtic College

  Riverside Celtic College is a school of tradiitonal Irish and Scottish music and language. Whether you are an absolulte beginner or returning to playing a past instrument, students will discover a relaxed learning environment with great instructors. Weekly group classes are offered for fiddle, harp, mandolin, tinwhistle, bodhran, bouzouk, guitar, bass guitar, keyboard, scottish bagpipes, irish and scottish gaelic languages adn ceili dancing

• Siamsa Shows in Galway

  Enjoy an evening in the heart of the city of Galway in the company of the musicians, singers, dancers and actors of Siamsa Seisiun, the Galway Folk-Theatre. A large cast of 23 performers give a colourful and vibrant picture of Ireland’s folk heritage and culture. In traditional costume, they dance, sing and act the most cherished old Irish customs, with particular emphasis on the Mumming tradition and the major Feast Days.

Instruments and Music Stores

• Crehan’s Musical Instruments

  Crehan’s is a Dublin-based shop supplying musical instrument sales, repair and accessories.

• Custy’s Traditional Irish Music Shop

  Custy’s Traditional Music Shop in Ennis, Co. Clare came into being in early September, 1992. It was the brainchild of Frances Custy who saw the need for a niche shop like this to supply the ever-growing interest in quality Traditional Irish music. They stock a varied selection of musical instruments to suit all needs. Pride of place in the shop goes to local and independently produced releases, an area which is thankfully thriving in Co.Clare.

• Great Irish Ballads

  A new web-based business, trading in Irish Ballad Books which contain music scores, guitar chords and structures, historical information about each song, photographs of Ireland’s people and countryside and CDs which feature the first verse and chorus of each song.

• Howard Harps

  Brendan Howard hand-crafts 34-string Irish harps.

• James Beatley: Handmade Instruments

  Quality handmade instruments by James Beatley including violins, violas, cello and bass. Beatley also offers instrument restoration, evaluations, bow rehairing and repair. See his site for sales of old and modern imports.

• Ray Sloan, Uilleann Pipemaker

  Ray Sloan makes Irish Uilleann pipes and Scottish Smallpipes. Ray is also a piper, and his CD is available for purchase from his website. The site also contains some audio samples of the various types of pipes.

• Roundstone Musical Instruments

• Seamus O’Kane’s Bodhrans

  The primary focus of this site is to provide information on the bodhrán maker Seamus O’Kane, and to provide a little background information on bodhráns.

• Sean Garvey’s Accordion Store

  Allaboutaccordions is run by Sean Garvey, accordion player and accordion builder and is based in Walkinstown, Dublin. They stock a large range of accordions and carry a varied selection of tunings and most keys.

Irish Language

• Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge

  Is í aidhm na Comhdhála ná bá agus tacaíocht don Ghaeilge mar bheotheanga agus cumas inti a neartú agus a bhuanú le go mbeidh sí á húsáid go saoráideach agus go forleathan i ngach gné de shaol mhuintir na hÉireann.

• Conradh na Gaeilge

  Conradh na Gaeilge is renowned for the provision of Irish language classes for adults. They are acclaimed for being the first to provide an adult education scheme in Ireland at the end of the 19th century.

• Foras na Gaeilge

  Foras na Gaeilge, the body responsible for the promotion of the Irish language throughout the whole island of Ireland, was founded on the second day of December 1999. In the Good Friday Agreement, it was stated that a North/South Implementation body be set up to promote both the Irish language and the Ulster Scots language. Under the auspices of this body, Foras na Gaeilge will carry out all the designated responsibilities regarding the Irish language.

• Gael Linn

  Gael Linn endeavours to promote the Irish Language in a host of different ways, through music, song, sport, debating and courses, amongst other activities. The Gael Linn music label is a hallmark of quality traditional music and song.

Irish Tourism

• Coleman Irish Music Centre and Shop

  The Centre is a tribute to Michael Coleman, one of the most influential traditional musicians of all time is located in Gurteen Co. Sligo.The Site contains Concert Listings for our theatre, event guide, information South Sligo area and an Online Store which sells Cds, Books, Instruments and Mp3s.

• Fáilte Ireland

  Fáilte Ireland, the National Tourism Development Authority, established under the National Tourism Development Authority Act, 2003, brings together and builds on the functions previously discharged by Bord Fáilte and CERT.

• Find it Ireland

  A directory of Irish web sites.

• Irish Abroad

  A website containing genealogy, business, personal, shopping and entertainment links relating to the Irish around the world.

• Island Ireland

  Island Ireland is an Internet directory to Irish art, culture and environment with hand-picked links to Irish history, architecture, music, news, genealogy, travel, literature, folk culture, archaeology, the Irish language and more.

• Tourism Ireland

  Tourism Ireland was established under the framework of the Belfast Agreement of Good Friday, April 1998, to increase tourism to the island of Ireland as a whole. Today the organisation employs 150 people to deliver targeted marketing programmes and work in close cooperation with travel trade, on-line operators, media, carriers and Irish industry partners.

• Visit Dublin

  Visitdublin.com is the foremost tourist website for Ireland’s capital with over 5,000 pages of information attracting in access of 300,000 unique visitors each month around the globe.

Others

• ABC2Win

  “ABC” is a text-based format used by many people for transcribing and sharing traditional Irish music. ABC2Win is a popular shareware programme written to edit and print this music notation.

• Forefront Productions

  ForeFront is one of Irelands leading Production Companies dedicated to servicing the needs of Broadcasters, Film Makers and TV Production Companies. Established in 1988 ForeFront provides a comprehensive range of Production and Post-Production facilities.

• Henrik Norbeck’s ABC Tunes

  Henrik Norbek has written a computer programme called ABCMus which does a decent job of playing back Irish music with a definable style. His page also includes a good library of tunes in the ABC notation format, similar to the tunes at thesession.org.

Traditional Music and Dance

• An Coimisiún le Rincí Gaelacha

  An Coimisiún le Rincí Gaelacha (the Irish Dancing Commission) was established by Conradh na Gaeilge – The Gaelic League – in the late twenties as a commission for the purpose of examining the organisation of Irish dancing as it existed at that time and to make recommendations as to how it might be better organised in the future. The influence of An Coimisiún continues to spread throughout the world and they have active classes in continental Europe, in South Africa and as far away as South America.

• Córas Events

  Córas Events provide live music, shows, sound equipment, lighting, and recording facilities for events and functions around Ireland, and internationally. Córas Events was set up in January, 2008 by Peter Staunton, a traditional musician with a business background.

• Ceol agus Rince Calendar

  A calendar of Irish traditional music and dance events: sessions, concerts, classes, céilithe, summer schools (in the US and Ireland) and festivals in the Mid Atlantic region of the USA. Includes:

  • Metro-NYC sessions, concerts in NYC, NJ, Philadelphia, Washington, etc.,
  • NYC, Philadelphia, Baltimore & Washington, DC céilithe - set dancing & céilí opportunities
  • Comhaltas events
  • Annual U.S. festivals
  • Summer schools ( Catskills Irish Arts Week, Swannanoah, Augusta Heritage, Willie Clancy Summer School, etc )

• Fermanagh Music Society

  The CD’s Vol I and 2 “Hidden Fermanagh” highlight the rich musical traditions of the Erne County. Already well noted for its vast store of traditional music “Hidden Fermanagh” unearths many tunes from the mid nineteenth century found in The John Gunn Book and hitherto unrecorded Also tunes from the playing of Mick Hoy , Eddie Duffy, Big John McManus and Cathal MacConnell. The Book ” Hidden Fermanagh” written by Cyril Maguire which accompanies the CD contains transcripts of over one hundred tunes and thirty three songs.

• Harp resources at harp.net

  A collection of links relating to Harp summer schools, artists, CDs, books, festivals and organisations.

• Irish Music Magazine

  From the commercial recordings of traditional tunes, and to the experimentation with other musical cultures, Irish Music Magazine keeps readers informed about upcoming tours, events and also festivals from the diverse world of Irish and Celtic acoustic music.

• Links at irish-music.net

  Links relating to CDs, festivals, summer schools, groups, concert tour schedules relating to Irish music.

• Set Dancing News

  Set Dancing News was the first web site about Irish set dancing, going online in December 1995. It was originally intended to provide information of interest to dancers in London, with listings of local, British and Irish events. This eventually broadened to Europe, North America and anywhere set dancing is found.

• Songs Collected by Donagh MacDonagh

  Back in the 40s and 50s my Dad (Donagh MacDonagh) did a programme on Radio Eireann called Ireland is Singing. Songs for the programme were sent in by listeners and the staff would set them to a tune (for the most part the songs did not come with any indication of the correct tune) and they would be sung on the programme. This resulted in a major body of songs, many of which are not commonly available elsewhere.

• The Session

  The exchange of tunes is what keeps traditional Irish music alive. This website is one way of passing on jigs, reels and other dance tunes. Some of the tunes are well known, and some are more obscure. It’s this mixture of the familiar and the new that makes for a good session. This site is very popular with musicians, and the discussions on the message boards can be quite lively.

• Vince Hearns

  Vince Hearns is a Dubliner who lives with his beautiful wife Mona at the foot of Knocknarea Mountain on the southern shore of Sligo Bay . He resided in Co. Clare (1965-72), lived in a village in Co. Cork (1972-74) and lived in Co. Carlow (1974-79). A fluent Irish speaker he has been collecting and recording traditional Irish music and song for almost forty years, some of his collected work is in the National Archive in the headquarters of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann in Dublin .

Traditional Musicians

• At First Light

  “At First Light” comprises the talents of world renowned Uilleann Piper John McSherry, outstanding young fiddle player Dónal O’Connor, Francis McIlduff from the famous McPeake clann, Alan Burke, formerly of the band Afterhours and Rubén Bada. The band is an exciting new entry to the Irish traditional music scene, and well worth a listen.

• Ceoltóiri na Sionnaine

  Ceoltóiri na Sionnaine are a group of 30 musicians, singers and dancers from all corners of Munster. The group provides an outlet for young musicians involved in Comhaltas to perform and show their talents. Through interaction with professional musicians and arrangers, everyone involved has the opportunity to gain a wealth of experience and knowledge invaluable to any musician.

• Dervish

  Dervish is one of the better-known bands playing Irish traditional music worldwide. It’s now nearly 18 years since first coming together and with four of the original members still at the helm, Dervish are more in demand than ever. Their colorful career has taken them to every corner of the globe and has seen them share centre stage with such names as James Brown, The Buena Vista Social Club, Oasis, Sting, REM, Beck and many more.

• Lunasa

  Lúnasa has become one of the most sought-after bands on the international Irish music scene. The band’s inventive arrangements and bass-driven grooves are steering Irish acoustic music into surprising new territory.

• Pádraig Rynne

  The Site includes information on: Tour Dates, Contact Details, Biography (About), Photos, Audio Samples, Video, Discography (Recordings), Reviews (Press Releases), News, Tour Dates and Links all related to the Irish traditional concertina player, Pádraig Rynne.

• Vincent McGrath

  Site of the accordion player Vincent McGrath. Vincent McGrath was born in Ros Dumhach (Rossport), a small village perched above the Atlantic Ocean in the beautifull Erris region of Co.Mayo. He is carrying on a tradition inherited from a family of renowned musicians and dancers.