The inaugural issue was published in the first week of November 2000.

Published in The Journal of Music on 4 November 2025.

Dear Reader,

Some of you have been with me since the beginning. For others, this may be the first piece you have read from this publication. For the past twenty-five years, The Journal of Music has been documenting and discussing music in Ireland. One never knows the impact of this work, and it is not easy in the current media environment, but I would be concerned were it not there.

We are not alone of course. A publication like this is part of the scaffolding that supports artists. Sometimes, musicians contact me and ask me to do more; other times they thank us for something we did do. Either way, the most important thing that I have learnt over the past twenty-five years is that you have to value your work. I often say this to artists: don’t underestimate your work. It’s making a difference – to you, to others. Value it. Keep going.

The last twenty-five years have not been uneventful – the rise of the digital age, an economic crash, a climate emergency, a pandemic, war, and now AI. But no matter what happens, musicians continue to play, composers continue to compose, and organisers continue to create spaces where we can hear that work. Music is everywhere. Three weeks ago, I attended singer and fiddle player Doireann Ní Ghlacáin’s one-woman show Studies on the Cailleach. Last week, I saw the new dance company Luail’s Dancehall with choreography by Emma Martin and music by Andrew Hamilton. At the same time, I have been playing every week in Stiúideo Cuan as part of its artists-in-residence programme. 

All over Ireland, musicians and composers are engaged in these acts of creativity, connecting and communicating, reaching out to audiences. The music may stay with listeners for a period, and then fade away, or they may carry it with them. But all of this creativity forms part of the synapses of our society. We can’t conceive of what these connections add up to, but they matter. It is within these steps that the next steps are made.

There are so many positive aspects to music in Ireland today: the talent of new generations, the institutions that support them, the progress in music education for children, the Basic Income for the Arts, the international audiences for Irish music, the ethos of sharing that is at the heart of our musical culture and which was so evident during the pandemic. But one of the most significant aspects of Irish music today is the courage musicians have shown in speaking out about Gaza. They have given us another reason to be proud of our music community.

When I was a student of publishing in Scotland in 1998, I discovered a collection of boxes in the University of Stirling library that contained almost the complete editions of The Irish Book Lover. It is one of the longest surviving Irish journals, having been published between 1909 and 1957 – forty-eight years. It was edited by Dr John S. Crone, then Séamus Ó Casaide and finally Colm Ó Lochlainn. When I looked through these copies, I could see the trials and tribulations involved in sustaining a publication because Dr Crone would often write about them in his editorials. Rather than being put off, I thought it was the most interesting world: the opportunity to document, to discuss, to challenge.

Now that The Journal of Music has reached twenty-five years, I have some idea of what Dr Crone was talking about. This journal has endured because of the support it has received – from readers, the Arts Council and supporters.

For me, I enjoy listening and writing, and working with writers who do the same. The more we write, the more it seems there is to write about.

Toner Quinn
Editor, The Journal of Music