Cathy Jordan on the Crankie Island Project: ‘It’s like slow TV, take time out and watch the story unfold’
The Dervish singer has collaborated with musicians and visual artists around the island of Ireland to create a ‘crankie box’ song for each county
Earth Sonnet: Mel Mercier’s vast soundscape of poetry and music sticks in the mind long after the performance
Dublin Fringe Festival 2024: The composer’s song cycle sets out to retune our ‘relationship with the earth at this time of climate crisis’
Macdara Yeates: Traditional Singing from Dublin – Passing of the torch in city’s vocal tradition
Possessed of a crystal-clear voice with echoes of the style of Luke Kelly and the emotional depth-charge of Liam Weldon, Yeates’s full-bodied singing is never anything but his own
Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh of Altan: ‘Music is like experiences you haven’t had before, and don’t have the words for’
Change characterises Altan’s sound since the aptly titled Donegal, says singer and fiddle player Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh
Córas Trio review: Belfast avant-garde folk trio break new ground
An audacious and self-assured eponmyous collection that heralds yet another welcome hairpin bend in the folk and traditional music
Bassekou Kouyate: ‘I am on a mission to promote my instrument, the ngoni, which predates Jesus Christ’
The Malian musician is bringing his pioneering blend of old and new to Earagail Arts Festival, joining Úna Monaghan in a deliciously eclectic programme
The Companion to Irish Traditional Music: A gargantuan endeavour and an essential resource
This knowledgeable companion can be leaned on when a question arises in conversation or a fact needs to be checked
Riverdance composer Bill Whelan: ‘I think we forget how important ritual is, and we’re losing it’
Composer, arranger and performer on Riverdance’s effect on Ireland, contemporary trad music, AI and facing down eternity
Steve Cooney, Pat Fleming and Timmy O’Connor: Tunes from Toureendarby – Fiery polkas and slides from Sliabh Luachra trio
Turn your amps up to 11 and rejoice in the sheer joie de vivre of this trio’s playing
Trad singer Ruth Clinton: ‘I got a little tired of certain tropes being repeated about women in songs’
At the Tradition Now festival, the singer will be showcasing songs from the folk canon that challenge stereotypes
‘We’re lucky in Irish music that players we look up to and have listened to all our lives are so accessible. It’s pretty unique’
Kerry piper Leonard Barry’s new album, Littoral, features a host of well-known names, including Kevin Burke of The Bothy Band
Niamh Bury: Yellow Roses – A testament to the vibrancy of Ireland’s folk scene
Debut album is a highly cohesive body of work that reveals itself gradually through a series of original songs
Notify: Airneán – Contemporary and traditional worlds intersect effortlessly
This is an organic, deeply thoughtful collection infused with a curiosity and an appetite for exploration
How one seller became unwittingly entangled in Michael Lynn’s Celtic Tiger property dealings
Journalist Siobhan Long faced a stressful period in 2007 when Lynn, then a solicitor amassing a sizeable property portfolio, briefly ran out of finance trying to buy her home
The Bothy Band: Traditional music’s most influential group blaze back after four decades
The revolutionary group, reunited for the making of a documentary, now plan to perform a series of shows in Belfast and Dublin