www.guidewiresmusic.com

‘Guidewires’ are: Tola Custy on fiddle, Sylvain Barou (from Brittany) on flutes, Paul McSherry on guitar and Karol Lynch on bouzouki, with Padraig Rynne on concertina. After being, “Flooded with emails and questions from people that have seen us live and people within the music circle asking us more about the band and when our album will be released,” Padraig explained to IMM. Well the good news is that they are recording a live album in Glór at the beginning of February, probably the 8th/9th February; the exact dates were still under negotiation as we went to press, but you can check with the venue. The concert is free and the band would like a huge audience to add to the live ambience of the album, which will be out in early summer.
More at: www.guidewiresmusic.com www.myspace.com/guidewires or Telephone: +353 86 6054449 and
Email: liosbeg@padraigrynne.com

www.nos-ur.eu

The 2009 Nós Úr competition is attracting interest from Shetland at the very north of the UK to Brittany in France, and many points in between. The deadline for submissions is drawing near so if you are a singer/songwriter with a passion for minority languages, don’t miss an opportunity to perform at this year’s regional final in Inverness, Scotland.
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Mary McPartlan and Susan McKeown receive public kudos
www.irishphiladelphia.com

The Irish Philadelphia website was full of praise for performances by Mary McPartlan and Susan McKeown (accompanied by Irish guitarist, Aidan Brennan), who sang separately and together on the stage at the Irish Center in Philadelphia on January 10th. The web review stated: “McKeown, who won a Grammy for her work with the New York-based klezmer group, The Klezmatics, performed an eclectic mix of Yiddish and Irish tunes along with her own inspired songs. McPartlan, whose voice has been compared to that of Dolores Keane, did several sean-nós and unaccompanied traditional songs. The two women and Brennan sang one song together in tight, gorgeous harmony.”

www.hawkswell.com

A musical voyage through lands and seas… Ebb & Flow is a travelling musical show presented in the format of a small festival that will help audiences experience the rich musical heritage of different cultures from both sides of the Atlantic. With three acts and a total of eight musicians on stage, Ebb & Flow is a powerful two-and-a-half-hour show of music from the Appalachians to the Andes, from Portugal to Finland and from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean, a blend of traditional tunes and original material.

Featuring: Sarah McQuaid, The Unwanted, a great new band featuring Rick Epping, Seamie O’Dowd and Cathy Jordan, and NoCrows (Steve Wickham, Anna Houston, Eddie Lee and Felip Carbonell). Saturday, April 18th, 2009 Hawk’s Well Theatre, 8.00pm, Temple Street, Sligo, Ireland, Tickets: €22.

www.crowvalleymusic.com

Brian and Eithne Valley founded the Armagh Pipers’ Club over forty years ago and have been involved in the musical education of thousands of children, including many who have gone on to establish themselves among Ireland’s foremost traditional musicians. They started producing tutor books in 1972 - the first of their kind. Crow Valley Music now has these iconic books for sale online for the first time

www.corkuniversitypress.com

The Making of Irish Traditional Music by Helen O’Shea
Hardback, 236 pages, ?39.00 Special Pre-Publication Offer: €30.00

Dr Helen O’Shea is a Research Fellow at Monash University, Victoria, Australia and her work has been praised by Professor Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, University of Limerick, who says it is, “A breath of fresh air in the growing literature on music in Ireland. The debate it will provoke will itself form a part of the great wild yell of Irish traditional music in a new century.”

The book claims to be first critical historical study of Irish traditional music. The Making of Irish Traditional Music also draws on the author’s experience as a musician to analyse the encounters of foreigners playing Irish music at summer schools with the tourism industry’s, ‘Ireland of the Welcomes’ and their experiences in the heart of Ireland’s traditional music empire, County Clare. The book concludes that a view of Irish traditional music, as expressive of an ethnically pure, territorially bound, masculinist, national culture, is an inadequate basis for a multi-ethnic Irish society.

For further information visit: www.corkuniversitypress.com

www.imro.ie

The Chairman of the Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO), Keith Donald, has announced that as of 1st February 2009, IMRO will manage the administration of the rights of the Irish mechanical rights society MCPSI. The decision to outsource MCPSI to IMRO has been approved by the boards of MCPSI, IMRO and MCPS and follows closely the appointment of Victor Finn as CEO of IMRO following his many years as Managing Director of MCPSI.
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www.imro.ie

Following a six month relocation period IMRO moved back to its newly renovated HQ at Copyright House on Pembroke Row, Dublin 2 during December 2008. Keith Donald IMRO Chairman tells us that, “The refurbished office space offers the very highest standards in contemporary workspace planning, IT and tele-communications services. “A new office plan layout allows for a flexible meeting space on the ground floor of the building, catering for up to 90 persons, which will be used for, among other things, IMRO’s regular series of song writing seminars, industry panels and mentoring sessions.”

www.artscouncil.ie

The popular and continuing Deis arts scheme for traditional music is running a project which will help fund the production of traditional music CD’s. There will only be one chance per year to submit your proposal and the deadline is looming. The Arts Council say that: “Proposals for recording projects (including CD production) will be considered separately, once per year. The closing date for all such proposals is Friday 24th April at 5.30 pm.”

Priority will be given to recording projects that: are of a significant archival nature or that are pertaining to the music of a specific region or in a particular style assist in making the music/song of an exceptional performer/composer/region publicly available
have a particularly innovative theme or original artistic format
form part of an individual’s career development.

You can find out more details on line at: www.artscouncil.ie

www.cdbaby.com/patriciadaly

Recently honoured with the Major Individual Artist Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and holder of the all-Ireland harping championship title, with a reputation that goes well beyond Ireland’s shores, Patricia Daly who is primarily known for her subtle and varied harp repertoire, displaying all the skills acquired over several decades of researching, arranging and playing traditional Irish music has now released a new CD entitled ‘The Spanish Lady’ which is also funded by The Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

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This purely vocal CD contains newly written material compiled by Patricia during the past 5 years. Her Major Individual Artist award will be used towards a new innovative piece of work currently being produced by Patricia to be staged later in the year thus taking her career to further heights.

Patricia has come a long way since she was singled out to perform at Drogheda as part of a trio playing to Pope John Paul II on his visit to Ireland in the late 70s. Her hard-earned CCE All-Ireland Harping Title in the mid 70’s kick-started her solo career, and brought her initial recognition as an acting ambassador for the Irish traditional harp throughout Ireland and further afield.

It was Patricia who also provided the inspiration (and the hard work) for the initiation of the ever more popular annual Edward Bunting Harp Festival in Armagh. One of the highlights of the 2008 festival was a visit from TG4 to televise a solo harp recital given by Mary O’Neill, and to interview Patricia on the importance of the festival, the life and times of Edward Bunting, the technique and life style of the old harpers of the Gael.

On line copies and downloads are available from the website: www.cdbaby.com/patriciadaly