Focus
CD Review: Gerard McChrystal & Craig Ogden – Pluckblow
Gerard McChrystal & Craig Ogden / Pluckblow / Meridian CDE84546
CD Reviews: John Spillane & Louis de Paor: The Gaelic Hit Factory
John Sillane & Louis de PaorThe Gaelic Hit FactoryEMI, CDGHF1John Spillane and Louis de Paor’s first album together, The Gaelic Hit Factory, brings a contemporary approach to Irish- language song, blending poetry and music, to provide an organic...
CD Reviews: Sami Moukaddem: Resistance: Soul Food
Sami MoukaddemResistance: Soul FoodBA42072-012The themes tackled in Sami Moukaddem’s latest album are as diverse as the musical styles on offer. They range from civil war and American occupation to questions of national identity to the divinity inherent...
Siobhán Ní Laoire at the Sean-nós Cois Life Traditional Singing Festival, 1993
Dublin singer Siobhán Ní Laoire at an event of the Sean-Nós Cois Life Traditional Singing Festival on 2 April 1993 in the Góilín Club at the Ferryman, Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin 2, with fellow-singers Clíona Ní Shúilleabháin, Áine uí Cheallaigh, and Frank Harte. Photograph by Dublin singer Luke Cheevers 
CD Review: Una Hunt – Fallen Leaves from an Irish Album
Una Hunt / Fallen Leaves from an Irish Album / RTÉ Lyric FM CD109
CD Reviews: Geantraí: Ceol den Scoth ón tSraith Teilifíse
GeantraíCeol den Scoth ón tSraith TeilifíseGael Linn CEFDVD189, CEFCD 189This DVD and CD marks ten years of the TG4 series Geantraí, and is a useful and thoroughly enjoyable compilation documenting the variety and vigour of contemporary...
The Crack Goes On
Writer, poet and flute-player Ciaran Carson remembers the traditional music group Planxty and reviews a recent book on the pioneering band. 
'The Deepest Need to be There, Communicating'
An Interview by composer Benjamin Dwyer with double-bassist and composer Barry Guy. 
Traditional Music and the Avant-Garde
The idea of an avant-garde wing in Irish traditional music may seem a contradiction in terms, but it shouldn’t be, argues Toner Quinn.