Category Archives: The Journal of Music

Make Conamara Weird Again

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A review of Trá Pháidín’s album launch for Cloch ‘s Claí at Amharclann Chois Fharraige on Saturday 26 September.  Published in The Journal of Music in Ireland on 29 September 2026.

The last time I saw Trá Pháidín, they were wearing bowler hats and Orange Order sashes in Stiúideo Cuan in An Spidéal around the 12th of July last year. This time, in Amharclann Chois Fharraige in Indreabhán (26 September), launching their new album Cloch ‘s Claí, they were wearing flat, rag-like masks as if from a dystopian Halloween of Famine times, the kind that would haunt you.

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A Book Review in the Irish Times

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I recently reviewed a book marking 30 years of the Crosbhealach an Cheoil traditional music conference in Dublin. The review is available to read in the Irish Times here: https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/review/2026/08/08/crosbhealach-an-cheoil-crucial-irish-traditional-music-conference-revisited/

Launch address for Jack Talty’s album ‘Coire an Cheoil’

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Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy, Miltown Malbay, 5 July 2026

Dia dhaoibh a chairde,

Tá mé an sásta a bheith anseo libh inniu chun an t-albam nua seo le Jack Talty a sheoladh.

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How Far We Have Come

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A review of Teaċ Daṁsa’s 1975/Naoi Déag Seachtó Cúig, based on the Bothy Band’s debut album. First published on journalofmusic.com.

I was one when the Bothy Band released their debut album in 1975, and 19 when I explored its invention. Musically, the album pulls away from Ó Riada and Planxty, combining the new aesthetic of rock and pop with traditional music. It was also only the second album released on the embryonic folk/pop label Mulligan, so it was a statement in many ways. Dónal Lunny and Mícheál Ó Domhnaill produced it, but the album code is LUN002 – his imprint is all over it.

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The Art of Cutting Through the Noise: CMAT’s Speech at the Ivors

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CMAT’s speech at the Ivors in London took a direct path to serious questions. First published on The Journal of Music in Ireland, 26 May 2026.

It won’t be long before the publicity machines smooth down public discourse again, moving our critical attention away from the splintering of our communities, and the ongoing corporate seizure of our housing, music, writing and intelligence, but for now let us appreciate, once more, a young Irish artist cutting through the noise and speaking out about the world today. 

‘I would compel my fellow artists in the room – it is not the time to sit on the fence,’ CMAT saidwhen she won her Best Album award for EURO-COUNTRY at the Ivors in London last Thursday 21 May, ‘Fascism is on the rise.’ 

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Book launch address: Beating Time: The Story of the Irish Bodhrán by Fintan Vallely

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Launch address
Fintan Vallely, Beating Time – The Story of the Irish Bodhrán
Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Galway, 21 May 2026

Go raibh míle maith agaibh a chairde agus Dia dhaoibh ar fad. Tá sé go deas a bheith libh chun an leabhar nua seo le Fintan, Beating Time – The Story of the Irish Bodhrán, a sheoladh.

After reading Beating Time this week, and thinking about it, I decided I want to start by mentioning a concert that I attended two weeks ago in Seanscoil Sailearna in Indreabhán. It was by the group Keane Connolly McGorman – the piper Pádraic Keane, the fiddle player Aidan Connolly, and the two Meath brothers Ruairí and Fergus McGorman on Greek bouzouki and flute. 

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An Article in The Journal.ie

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Today I have an article titled ‘An Spidéal in a byelection’ in TheJournal.ie. Read it here: https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/gaeltacht-7038471-May2026/

The Journal of Music in Ireland is seeking a freelance podcast producer

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The Journal of Music in Ireland (JMI) is seeking a freelance podcast producer to support a new series of in-depth conversations on Irish music and culture.

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Dolores Keane: Songs About Where We Come From

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First published on The Journal of Music in Ireland on 18 March 2026.

I wasn’t there at the Gradam Ceoil TG4 awards that Easter Sunday evening at the National Concert Hall in 2022, when Dolores Keane sang ‘Caledonia’, but I watched it on television. I remember standing in my sitting room as she took the song at a slightly slower pace, standing at a podium with her Gradam Saoil award beside her. Dougie MacLean’s ‘Caledonia’ was a song she had sung thousands of times since she recorded it in 1988, but this felt different. There was a freedom and intimacy to the performance, like she was telling a story to friends. She looked at the crowd, pausing over lines like ‘I proved the points that I needed proving’, lifting out her arm to them when she sang ‘I think about you all the time’, keeping her eyes closed for just a little bit longer when she sang the line about losing friends and finding new ones. I don’t know if I was reading too much into her singing that night, but it was a performance I never forgot.

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‘I often feel our songwriters and composers are forgotten about in the AI debate. I want to put them front and centre’: An Interview with Catherine Martin on her New Role at the Ivors Academy

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First published on The Journal of Music in Ireland on 5 March 2026.

Former Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media Catherine Martin has been appointed Head of Policy, Ireland, with the Ivors Academy. In this interview with Toner Quinn, she discusses her new advocacy role for songwriters and composers, the challenges posed by AI, and the future of the Basic Income for the Arts.

It is just over 13 months since Catherine Martin lost her seat as a Green TD – which in turn ended her tenure as Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media as part of the last coalition government. In terms of arts ministries, her four and a half years in the role were the most consequential in a generation. 

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