‘From time immemorial a strange wedding custom has been observed in the West of Ireland, young men – known as the Straw-Boys – who have not been invited to the ceremony, and who care to present themselves in the disguise shown in our...

The Jerome Hynes Commission Opportunity for Young Composers, IrelandDeadline: 31 December 2009Open to composers under the age of 30, who are resident or domiciled in Ireland.

LISTINGS FROM THE CONTEMPORARY MUSIC CENTREContinued from October–November 2009 Works Received, August – September 2009Buckley, John, Lullaby for Deirdre [n.d.], gui.de Bromhead, Jerome, Guitar Sonata No.

LISTINGS FROM THE IRISH TRADITIONAL MUSIC ARCHIVEContinued from October–November 2009CDs PUBLISHED 2009Baileys, The, singing in English, A Song for Ireland, Toucan Cove Entertainment TC1105Caladh Nua, vocal & instrumental group, Happy D

Arc Light (Navigator 20)

Albion: An Anthology (Navigator 29)

The Harpers Connellan: Irish Music of the late 17th century

XXX­_Live_Nude_Girls!!!, Mere Recordings (Mere002)

Evenset, Diatribe (DIACD008)

Crossroads (MCSCD001)

Silent painting: Robert Rauschenberg’s White Painting (Three Panel) (1951) Barcelona – An exhibition on the life and work of the composer John Cage is running at the Museu D’Art Contemporani De Barcelona until 10 January 2010. It is...

Jenni Roditi / Andrew Poppy, LIFEM (London International Festival of Exploratory Music), Kings Place, London, 4 November 2009

The language we use around traditional music isn’t about making new music but about old music.

Métier: Michael Buckley (saxophones), Justin Carroll (Fender Rhodes), Joe O’Callaghan (guitar), Ronan Guilfoyle (bass), Sean Carpio (drums), Cabinteely House, County Dublin, 15 October 2009

Dirty Projectors / Tune Yards, Whelan’s, Dublin, 16 September 2009

Can you hear the difference between a pause and silence? Composer Tom Johnson explores recent trends in European minimalism and silent music.

The full range of views currently being aired on the state of copyright and illegal downloading was starkly illustrated in the responses of Mike Hanrahan and Scott McLaughlin to my article (Aug–Sept).

In works by Leitch Ritchie and John Beverley Nichols, Barra Ó Séaghdha discovers why Indian music is not serious art – while China and Scotland have problems too.

Origin early 19th cent. (denoting the director of a musical institution): from French, entreprendre, ‘undertake’

Born in 1969 in Sydney to a Sephardic Jewish family originally from Iraq, guitarist Oren Ambarchi’s music is underpinned by his desire to tell stories.

This is really out there

Jumping, headbanging, the slow set – dancing today has thinned out incredibly. Can we broaden it out again?

This is really happening

How can musicians that are so eminent in their own genre fail to understand the conventions of another?

Lester Young — musical visionary and ensemble journeyman, hipster icon and distant loner — was the most influential instrumentalist in early jazz but, in his prime, never led his own band.

New York cellist and composer Arthur Russell Hold on to Your Dreams: Arthur Russell and the Downtown Music Scene, 1973–1992 by Tim Lawrence (Duke University Press) is the first biography of the cellist and composer Arthur Russell, one of th

Julie Fowlis is a singer from North Uist, a small island in the Outer Hebrides in Scotland.

Composers at Artmusfair (l-r): Patrick Ager (authority on EU politics), Sarah Rodgers (composer, Chairman of British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors), David Stoll (composer, Board member of BASCA), John McLachlan (composer, Di

Christine Tobin, Jury’s Hotel, Cork, 6 October 2009

Soap & Skin (Anja Plaschg), Button Factory, Dublin, 22 October 2009; Chip Shop Music, Ireland Institute, Dublin, 23 October 2009; Pastures New: Paddy Glackin, Emer Mayock and Donal Siggins, Kevin Barry Room, National Concert Hall, Dubli

For nine years, I have been poised as a magazine publisher, ready to leap into the virtual world entirely. From about 2006, I was expecting it every month. It has yet to happen.

Has the affection for the piano in the home sustained – or is it now a piece of technology to be superseded?

People plus music: it’s a simple formula for compelling television programmes, but why does screening creativity in music defeat even the most imaginative producers and directors, asks Christopher Fox.

Obama and the music of Chicago become the vehicle for a writer's guilt

Classical/Early   CD Review Andrew McGregor Sat, 9:00am www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/cdreview/Classical Collection Sarah Walker Mon–Fri, 10:00am www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/classicalcollection Composer of the Week Donal...

ISCM World New Music Days, Visby, Växjö and Gothenburg, Sweden, 24 September – 4 October 2009