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558 radio. This has been a powerful medium in the dissemination of traditional music, both in Ireland and among Irish communities in the USA. At home, it gave voice to that which was considered distinctive – indigenous music – and which was then still popular music. Among emigrants it was part of the fare of specialised programmes targeted on the Irish as a section of the populations in various cities and regions. Since early radio in Ireland was state-controlled, it carried authority, and to be asked to perform on it was of major signi ficance.Through it, people heard – often for the first time – how the music was played in regions other than their own. This instilled awareness of variety within the art form, and contributed to the ideological and aesthetic reasoning which prompted and promoted the music’s revival. The main telecommunications agency promoting traditional music has been RTÉ and its predecessors, and BBC, RnaG, Lyric and Downtown in later years.Television in both parts of the island has also played a significant role. Radio 2 RN. This was the title of the first Irish radio station, so described in its initial test broadcast in 1926: ‘Seo Radio 2RN, Baile Átha Cliath ag tástáil’ (‘This is Radio 2RN, Dublin testing’). The first regular broadcasting began on the following new year’s day from a studio in Little Denmark Street, Dublin. At that time, and until the advent of offshore pirate broadcasting in the 1960s, it was simply known as ‘the wireless’. Séamus Clandillon, the station’s first director, had a keen interest in Irish music and song and so the programme schedules frequently included Irish material, including what is now known as traditional music. Part of the Department of Posts and Telegraphs, the service was initiated in the period of the first Cumann na nGaedheal government by its ardently nationalist minister,Willie Walsh, initiator also of Aonach Tailteann (1924).The inaugural broadcast in January 1926 was made by Douglas Hyde, one of the founders of the Gaelic League, and later to become the first president of Ireland. Significantly, in music he was also known for his 1893 song collection Abhráin Grádh Chúige Connacht (Love Songs of Connacht). first broadcast. On 1 January, 1926 this took the form of an opening ‘studio concert’. It was addressed first by Douglas Hyde for about thirtythree minutes.The music and song which followed was credited as to origins and/or arrangement. It represents a cross-section of taste at the time, but Irish origin is firmly established, even if mediated by classical or trained performers. The symbolic instruments – harp and uilleann pipes – are present, as is a lyric by Thomas Moore, the nineteenthcentury ‘National bard’. There is no concession to religion or to political anthems save ‘Lord is my Light ‘ and ‘The West’s Awake’.The times allocated to each piece, allowing for introductions, indicate balance also. Allowing for the nature of the times, and of the cultural insecurity in music which was to prevail nationally until the 1950s, the programme below can be interpreted as an initial commitment by the radio station to a national music culture. All spellings are as per the original script. No. 1 Army Band: First Irish Fantasia ([Fritz] Braze) 7’ Séamus Clandillon: An Goirtin Nornan, Brighid Gheal Ban, Cill Mhuire (‘Trad’) 11’ Arthur Darley (violin/fiddle): O’Donnell Abú, Savourneen Deelish,The West’s Awake (‘Old Irish’) 11’ Miss J. Burke (contralto): Down by the Sally Gardens, I Wish I were on Yonder Hill,The Minstrel Boy (‘Old Irish’) 14’ Miss A. Fagan (harp): Go Where Glory Waits thee, Battle Hymn, Avenging Bright (‘Old Irish’) 8’ No.1 Army Band: Lament for Youth (Larchet); Molly on the Shore (P. Grainger) 7’ Jos. O’Mara (tenor): The Willow Tree (‘Irish Air’), Turn Ye to Me (‘Scotch Air’), Bard of Armagh (Larchet) 12’ Union pipes [James] Ennis and Anarevs [?]: Air, Jig, Reel and Hornpipe (‘Old Irish’) 10’ Maighréad Ní Annagain: An Beinsin Luachra, R Radio Éireann 559 Cois Abha Moire; Caoine Cill Cais (‘Old Irish’) 12’ Miss Dina Copeman [piano]: Nocturne in C No. 12 (Field); Polonaise in E Flat (Chopin) 12’ Intermission for the weather forecast. 2’ J.C. Doyle: Love Thee Dearest (Moore), Little Mary Cassidy (Somerville),Lord is my Light (Allitsen) 11’ Arthur Darley: Romance in A [?] (Wolff ); Borée (Moffat) 13’ Palestrina Choir: Missa Papae Marcelli (Palestrina), Regina Coeli (Albenger) 13’ No. 1 Army...

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