Music Generation – U2 and Ireland Funds National Music Education Programme – Announces Second Round of Music Education Partnerships

Cork City, Laois and Wicklow to receive up to €1.7 million in funding

The programme is enabled by a €5 million donation from U2 along with a further €2 million which is currently being raised by The Ireland Funds. The donation represents the largest-ever single philanthropic gift to music education in Ireland in the history of the state. Music Generation, which is successfully underway in Louth, Mayo and Sligo, is expected to create substantial job opportunities for musicians over the next five years as well as providing access to vocal and instrumental tuition for thousands of children and young people who would otherwise not have the chance of participation.

More details on this Second Round of Music Education Partnerships here

Check the latest news from Music Generation here

The Irish Traditional Music Archive has just added an additional 30,000 catalogue records to its online catalogue

The catalogue now contains some 55,000 catalogue records which are all available for self-service searching. Covered in brief format are the current ITMA holdings of

• commercial sound recordings (cylinders, 78s, SPs, EPs, LPs, cassettes, and CDs);

• printed materials (song & instrumental music collections, studies, tutors, theses, reference works, sheet music, ballad sheets, chapbooks, periodicals, contextual publications, and some 2,500 festival and event programmes);

• visual materials (photographic prints, postcards and other still images, and commercial VHSs and DVDs).

For all these categories, the online catalogue will answer the question: Is it in the Irish Traditional Music Archive? Each item catalogued is freely available for reference within ITMA.

Not yet included in the online catalogue are non-commercial field and private recordings, articles from periodicals, offprints, manuscripts, artefacts, digital photographs, the remaining festival and event programmes, and library ephemera such as posters and leaflets. Much of this material however is covered by the ITMA in-house catalogue which is freely available to visitors. New material will continue to be systematically added to the online catalogue.

Performers and publishers who do not find their work in Irish traditional music in the above categories represented in the ITMA online catalogue are encouraged to send copies of published items to ITMA for possible inclusion.

For a general introduction to this online ITMA project, see here.

With all best wishes for Christmas and 2012,

The Staff of the Irish Traditional Music Archive / Taisce Cheol Dúchais Éireann

At Christmas we are inundated with the same songs. We walk the streets humming them in our heads. We hum them on the bus, we sit at our desks tapping our feet to Rudolph the red nose reindeer. Half the time we make up our own words. Although we may get irritated by the same songs everyday, by January they are gone back into their drawer until the following year’s bombardment begins.

Make the most of them when you can and be aware of the many other Christmas songs and carols that are available and that you won’t hear in every shop. The Music Library in the Ilac Centre has a collection of Christmas music specially put together.

Whether you want to find out the real words for Frosty the Snowman or discover something new from seven centuries of carols or if you want to dance to Bing Crosby decking the halls or play Bach’s Christmas Oratorio when you are stuffing the turkey, you can find it at the Ilac Centre Music Library!!!.

Contact staff in the Music Library, via telephone (01) 8734333, email musiclibrary@dublincity.ie or in person. The Music Library is located in the Central Library, Ilac Centre, Henry Street, Dublin 1.

Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland to Perform Special Concert with Phil Coulter

Ulster Hall, Belfast 7:30pm Saturday 26th November

Tickets priced £10 – £25 for Phil Coulter and Friends are available directly from the Ulster Hall Box Office

Tel. +44 28 9033 4455 / Online : www.ulsterhall.co.uk

Headlined by world renowned composer, producer and performer Phil Coulter, this promises to be a wonderful cross community celebration of all that is good in Irish music North and South. The concert will feature the internationally acclaimed Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland  with guest soloists Patricia Treacy- Violin; Patrick Martin – Uilleann Piper; Emmanuel Lawler – Tenor; Gearóid Grant – Conductor; as well as Drum and Piping Corps. The concert will also feature one of Ireland’s leading pianists, Una Hunt; the king of the accordion Liam O’Connor and traditional group Kintra presenting a blend of traditional Irish and Scottish music.

The concert is supported by Arts Ministers North and South who will be in attendance, and is presented by Downpatrick and Listowel Twinning Groups.