Photo: Tony Kearns Ciarán Ó Maonaigh is a fiddle player from Gaoth Dobhair, County Donegal. A grandson of Proinsias Ó Maonaigh (a.k.a. Francie Mooney), he was the 2003 TG4 Young Traditional Musician of the Year. This year he released the...

Our society lives on a short fuse. The current economic turmoil and the cuts in arts funding demonstrate the lack of a long-term perspective. Michael Cronin asks how our society can escape the tyranny of the moment.

Gig GuideMany readers will be aware that JMI sends out a bulletin and gig guide email every Monday. The email features nationwide event listings, the latest news from the music world and frequent competitions for tickets and CDs.

Before JMI began in 2000, I wrote down a list of people I intended to ask to write for the magazine. They were people I regarded as cornerstones in Irish musical life.

Amstel Saxophone Quartet, Maria McGarry (piano), Cathal Roche (saxophone). Various venues, Sligo. 20 September 2008

Cora Smyth (fiddle, low whistle), Breda Smyth (fiddle, whistles, low whistle), Pauline Scanlon (voice), Donogh Hennessy (guitar)Ballina Arts Centre, Co.

John Abercrombie (guitar), Michael Buckley (saxophone), Ronan Guilfoyle (bass), Joey Baron (drums)Whelan’s, Dublin14 September 2008Since moving from Berklee College to New York City in 1969, guitarist John Abercrombie has brought his superb

Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin13 September 2008There’s a 1982 interview between John Cage and the then young Belgian composer Wim Mertens on UbuWeb.

Andrzej Bauer (cello), Roger Doyle (keyboard), Keith O’Brien (guitar, laptop), Brian Ó hUiginn (uilleann pipes) Liberty Hall, Dublin19 September 2008This year’s burst of concerts from Music 21 was as diverse as ever, taking in the quite...

Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin24 August 2008Sa Dingding is something of a media phenomenon.

First things FirstLorimer LORRCD1First Things First, the debut solo recording from Scottish harper Ailie Robertson, is a satisfying combination of past, present and future, as she places the ancient over-tones of the clarsach in a modern se

A Pale Yellow SkyRTÉ lyric fm CD115It is difficult to call to mind another concert harpist of the calibre of County Down’s Clíona Doris who has the imagination to think differently about an instrument perhaps best known by audiences...

RTÉ lyric fm CD117This double CD presents thirty-two tracks performed by forty-two of Ireland’s finest traditional musicians, recorded in concert in 2003-2007 at the Masters of Tradition Festival which takes place annually at Bantry House,.

Bax, Bernstein and BeethovenRTÉ lyric fm CD116Only one of the traditional ‘Three Bs’ features on the debut offering from the ensemble avalon, but so persuasive is this coupling of Beethoven with Arnold Bax and Leonard Bernstein that...

Ceol is PÌobCB 001With the release of this album Stéphanie Makem and Tiarnán Ó Duinnchinn have taken a step further in their nuptial partnership. Ceol is Píob is a collection of music with a distinct Ulster accent....

Simon Jermyn’s Trot A MouseFSNT 318Dublin bassist Simon Jermyn’s new recording on the Barcelona label Fresh Sounds has been gestating for a while.

Tráthnóna Beag AréirGael Linn CEFCD 193Growing up in north Belfast in the 1950s, Albert Fry got to know a family from North Queen Street, the Greens or Clann ’ic Grianna. The father was Donal Mac Grianna, brother of the Donegal...

The great works of the classical canon abide because they have something to say about the here and now. We need to stop devaluing them, writes Michael Quinn.

How outstanding traditional musicians separate themselves from the crowd

Jazz in Marciac in the south of France, and Dún Laoghaire’s Festival of World Cultures

For over a decade, John Kelly has been broadcasting his own distinct mix of music on national radio, first with the BBC, then Eclectic Ballroom on Radio Ireland (now Today FM) and Mystery Train on RTÉ Radio 1, establishing a reputation as a

The corporate cruelty of the new talent shows

In Belfast, culture has been ditched for something much easier to handle: events. But the tenth Open House Festival was able to do both.

The Irish harp as national symbol at Daniel O’Connell’s Monster Repeal Meeting on Tara Hill, Co.

Classical/EarlyCD Review – Andrew McGregor, Sat, 9am, www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/cdreview/Classical Collection – Sarah Walker, Mon–Fri, 10am, www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/classicalcollectionComposer of the Week – Donal Macleod, Mon–Fri, 12pm,...

Continued from JMI September–October 2008Works Received, August–September 2008Ball, Derek, Studies for ‘Tragedia dell’arte’ [2008], cl tpt pf. Songs at the Threshold [2008], treble voice, ct, ttbb. Jenny’s Maggots [2008],...

LISTINGS FROM THE IRISH TRADITIONAL MUSIC ARCHIVEContinued from JMI September–October 2008CDs PUBLISHED 2008At the Racket, instrumental group, It’s Not Racket Science, Racket Records CD008Bothy Band, The, instrumental & vocal group, Out

It is possible now to do almost anything to Irish traditional music. Whether one should is open to debate.

What we can learn from contemporary music festivals in Portugal and Finland