The Companion to Irish Traditional Music

Cover

9 781859 184509 ISBN 978-1-85918-450-9 www.corkuniversitypress.com www.corkuniversitypress.com This extraordinary encyclopedia covers the people, instruments,styles,repertoires and regions of past and present Irish traditional music, song and dance. Half a million words and several hundred images present facts, ideas and terminology, explore aesthetics and ideology, and document teaching, learning, study and performance. The immense volume of biography, history and opinion is diverse yet comprehensive. It is drawn from the collective expertise of some 200 specialists who in A - Z format deal with all instruments and playing styles, repertoires, people, performance and transmission, media and professionalism, ideology, awards, standards and competition. They broaden the picture to take in the musics of Scotland and England, migration to Britain and the USA, the exhilarating new internationalism and music tourism. Uniquely too, The Companion carries extensive data on Irish traditional music as it is played in all counties of the island of Ireland, as well as in Britain, Scotland,the USA and the major European countries. This marks the book as a compendium of not only what is being done and by whom, but also of where it is happening and in what way.A detailed time-line charts the history of music events, initiative and publications as prompted by and interwoven with history, and a categorized bibliography carries easy reference for all forms of enquiry. These pages lay out the canon of traditional music in Ireland as assembled by its significant performers, teachers and collectors, composers and arrangers, commentators, promoters, and audiences. It is an essential asset and a core reference for all research and further study in Irish studies, Irish music and ethnomusicology. FINTAN VALLELY is a musician, writer, lecturer and researcher on traditional music. He began to play traditional music on the flute in the early 1960s and compiled its first Irish-music tutor in 1986. He later studied ethnomusicology at Queens University Belfast, became The Irish Times’ traditional music correspondent and reviewer from 1994-2000 and was columnist in that field with the Sunday Tribune 1996–2002. Consultant editor for traditional music to The Encyclopedia of Ireland in 2003, his published work includes The Blooming Meadows (essays on musicians with Charlie Piggott and photographer Nutan,1998),Together inTime (onAntrim flute player John Kennedy, 2002), Tuned Out – Traditional Music and Identity in Northern Ireland (2008), a satirical song collection – Sing Up! Irish Comic Songs and Satires for Every Occasion (2008) and Ben Lennon – The Tailors’ Twist, a text and photo study of the Leitrim fiddler (2011). He played full time in the 1970s and ‘80s, in the US, Scotland and England, and is on three CD albums – a solo recording Traditional Irish Flute Music (1979),with guitarist Mark Simos on The Starry Lane to Monaghan (1992), and with singer Tim Lyons on Big Guns and Hairy Drums (2002). His flute instruction manual is now released in a new edition as The Irish Flute Tutor.Vallely is a contributor to conferences, festivals and journals on traditional music,and was one of the organisers of The Crossroads Conference series (1996 and 2003). His 2004 PhD research was Flute Routes to twenty-first Century Ireland, and his current work includes investigation of the origins of the Irish bodhrán drum.A lecturer on Irish traditional music, he has taught on programmes in NUI Maynooth, University of Ulster, DkIT and Trinity College Dublin. Cover image: ‘Snapp Apple Night’ by Daniel Maclise (1806–70) Private Collection / Photo © Bonhams, London, UK / The Bridgeman Art Library Nationality Author photograph: © Charles Franch Guerra, Palais Princier Monaco (2008) Jacket by Burns Design, Cork Fintan Vallely, Editor Fintan Vallely, Editor COMPANION TO IRISH TRADITIONAL MUSIC COMPANION TO IRISH TRADITIONAL MUSIC 1,800 MAJOR TOPICS 4,000 ARTICLES 300 IMAGES With comment by Martin Hayes, Máire Ní Chathasaigh and Mick Moloney SECOND EDITION COMPANION TO IRISH TRADITIONAL MUSIC COMPANION TO IRISH TRADITIONAL MUSIC • Education and Transmission • Collectors and Archives • History and Revival • Performers, Stylists, Commentators • Broadcasting and Recording • English, Scottish and Welsh music and song • Music in all Irish Counties, Europe and the USA • Time-line: 1100 BC – 2011 AD • Irish Music Books 1724 – 2011 • Song in Irish and English • Dance – Step Dance, Céilí and Sets • Solo and Group Playing • Céilí Bands and Professionalism • Storytelling • Instruments and Technology • Tune Types and Composition • Styles and Ornamentation • Organisations and Promotion Fintan Vallely EDITOR Fintan Vallely EDITOR SECOND EDITION The ultimate reference for all players, devotees and students of Irish traditional Music. An indispensable...