Opinion & Book Reviews
The sponsorship by Flogas of the Galway International Arts Festival raises a number of questions about what is appropriate sponsorship for the arts, writes Toner Quinn.
A new book by Kate Molleson, 'Sound Within Sound: Opening Our Ears to the Twentieth Century', explores the work of ten composers who have been left out of standard musical histories. Mark Fitzgerald reviews.
In the music of today, you can hear the hopelessness of today's youth as they face a catalogue of dark, gloomy issues, writes Shannon McNamee.
On 26–28 May in the Bello Bar in Dublin, Dave Liebman and the Guilfoyle/Nielsen trio will try to emulate the atmosphere of the New York jazz clubs of the 1960s, with their long playing time and intimate atmosphere in which jazz originally developed. Here, Ronan Guilfoyle discusses what made the jazz club so essential to the music.
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.
RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta celebrates 50 years this month, but however great its achievements and its positive impact on traditional music and song, Irish-language media cannot stand still, writes Toner Quinn.
Beyond the activist punk band Pussy Riot, a number of popular rock, pop and rap artists in Russia have been making their voices heard on the invasion of Ukraine – in the face of oppressive new laws – while others have chosen to stay silent. Adrian Smith explores the nature of dissent through music in Russia at this critical time.
The first book to discuss music on the Aran Islands, 'Collecting Music in the Aran Islands: A Century of History and Practice', has recently been published by Deirdre Ní Chonghaile. Adrian Scahill reviews.
Irish pop singer CMAT's debut album went to number one in the Irish charts in its very first week. An original songwriter with a witty online presence, she has come to mean even more than that for her fans, writes Shannon McNamee.
A cultural boycott of Russia has been emerging over the past two weeks following the invasion of Ukraine, but we have to reflect on how it is being implemented and what it hopes to achieve, writes Adrian Smith.