Laura Watson

Dr Laura Watson is Associate Professor of Music at Maynooth University.

One Voice, Many Paths
Bono's new memoir, 'Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story', brings the reader from his formative years up to the present and explores the rise of U2, the band's catalogue of albums, his political campaigning, and family relationships. Laura Watson reviews.
A Limited Edition
A new collection of essays, 'This Woman's Work', focuses on the female experience of music and aims to challenge 'the historic narrative of music and music writing being written by men, for men’. Laura Watson reviews.
A Gripping Memoir Woven Through with Trauma
In her recently published memoir, 'Rememberings', Sinéad O'Connor takes ownership of the narrative around her life and music, writes Laura Watson.
Unguarded Voice
Christy Dignam of Aslan has recently published a new memoir that tells of his epic private struggle with drugs as well the story of the band's evolution from local heroes to fixtures of the Irish musical establishment. Laura Watson reviews.
Against the Establishment
The third concert in the Female Composers Series takes place this week featuring music by pioneering composers such as Bonis, Chaminade and Lili Boulanger. Ahead of the concert, Laura Watson of Sounding the Feminists explores their works, the artistic world they worked in and the rise of the 'femme nouvelle'.
Hard Questions Matter
In a raw and discomfiting experience at the MAC in Belfast, Josette Bushell-Mingo explored the political and musical legacy of Nina Simone, writes Laura Watson.
Gothic Outsiders
Siobhán Cleary's 'Vampirella' is a thought-provoking addition to the Irish operatic repertoire, writes Laura Watson.
A Fractured History for Fractured Arts
The treatment of music was inconsistent, but RTÉ's 'Altering States' underlines the need for a discourse about music's relationship with the other arts in Ireland, writes Laura Watson.
Sexism and the Leaving Cert. Music Syllabus
The representation of women in the Leaving Certificate music syllabus is practically non-existent, writes Laura Watson, and revision is long overdue.