Niall Keegan is a traditional flute player and Associate Director at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick.
Niall Keegan
What was it about Micho Russell's music and performances that was so unique and compelling, and that made him into a star of the folk revival? Niall Keegan listens to a recent double-CD collection which includes a range of previously unpublished recordings.
Is Irish traditional music a newly constructed music – manufactured for the needs of an island going through traumatic upheaval? Niall Keegan discusses Martin Dowling's new collection of essays, 'Traditional Music and Irish Society: Historical Perspectives'.
Irish harp music has evolved and diversified in recent history – now it ranges from the pub session to historical reconstructions and new-age airs.
The language we use around traditional music isn’t about making new music but about old music. We are judging today’s traditional music on the basis of what we imagine happened in the past, restricting the creative freedom of today’s artists. If the traditional arts are to flourish in the future, we have to start challenging the language of a past agenda.
The Pleasures of Hope: Flute Music from Belfast and Beyond, (HBMC09)
The Making of Irish Traditional Music
Helen O’Shea
Cork University Press (2008)
Nil gar ann! – Traditional Fiddle Music from Donegal – Played by Frank Cassidy (and in duet with John Doherty) / Cairdeas na bhFídléirí
/ CNF005
Pathway to the Well – Recorded Live at Matt Molloy’s / Racket Records, RR007
Tradition in the midst of a flowering in Come West Along The Road, a DVD of traditional music from the 1960s, 70s and 80s.