EXHIBITION OF LOUTH’S IRISH MUSIC LEGACY

Plans are well underway for the 2018 Fleadh which will bring thousands of visitors to Drogheda and provide an economic boom for the town.

This year will be an important year for Irish traditional music in Louth with the Fleadh taking place in August and one of the many interesting events at the major festival will be an exhibition on the Irish traditional music heritage of Louth based on a research project that has been underway at Dundalk Institute of Technology over the past number of years.

While much material has been gathered, the researchers welcome any additional material that the public may have including photographs, old recordings, instruments and memorabilia relating to Irish traditional music and musicians in Louth and surrounding areas.

Research into the musical traditions of Louth and Oriel is an integral focus of the Creative Arts Research Centre at DkIT and is evident in the teaching and learning in the Department of Creative Arts, Media and Music. Concerts in recent years have celebrated famous local musical figures including John Joe Gardiner (2012), Josephine Keegan (2013), Mona Roddy (2014) and Brian O’Kane (2017). These concerts have generated a lot of interest and the research has benefitted from the generosity of many people in the community to date.

Researchers at the institute have also presented and published their research in academic contexts including papers at the International Conference for Traditional Music Conference (2017) and contributions to the Encyclopaedia of Music in Ireland (2013) and Companion to Irish Traditional Music (2011). They have performed music from the region all over the world including tours to America and Brazil (2014), Scotland and Canada (2016), France and Norway (2017) and last year Adèle Commins and Daithí Kearney released an album of new compositions entitled A Louth Lilt to critical acclaim.

Lead researcher on the project, Dr Adèle Commins, who grew up playing with local céilí bands in Dundalk and successfully competed in the Fleadh herself, says: ‘We don’t want to forget people or leave anybody out. While the focus of the project has primarily been on the Siamsa Céilí Band and Rory Kennedy so far, there is a great and varied history of music in Louth and we want to ensure that the breadth of the traditional music community is represented’.

Anybody who wishes to provide items for the exhibition or information that may be relevant to the project can contact the researchers at alouthlilt@gmail.com.