Martin Dowling

Martin Dowling is a fiddle player and author of 'Traditional Music and Irish Society: Historical Perspectives' (Ashgate, 2014). He lives in Belfast.

An Incomplete Journey Through Chicago's Irish Music Scene
Richie Piggott’s recent book, 'Cry of a People Gone: Irish Musicians in Chicago, 1920–2020', explores the story of Irish music in the Midwest city, documenting important milestones and including numerous biographies as well as hundreds of photos. Martin Dowling reviews.
Cultural Treasures Bound up with Barbarism
The Irish Traditional Music Archive has recently published 'The Forde Collection: Irish Traditional Music from the William Forde Manuscripts' edited by Nicholas Carolan and Caitlín Uí Éigeartaigh, a hugely important collection of over 900 transcriptions of Irish tunes and song-airs from the 1840s. Martin Dowling reviews.
Ways of Talking and Thinking About Irish Traditional Music
A recent book by Jessica Cawley, 'Becoming an Irish Traditional Musician: Learning and Embodying Musical Culture', interviews 22 Irish traditional musicians and explores how they learnt their craft. Martin Dowling reviews.