Spéis

BULLETIN OF THE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR TRADITIONAL MUSIC MAY 2010

Images from the ICTM Ireland Welcome to the first volume of Spéis – the online Annual Conference 2010 bulletin of the International Council for Traditional Music, Ireland. The bulletin will be published twice a year and will contain lots of up to date information on the research activities and interests of ICTM members as well as highlighting upcoming events and opportunities. As with all the activities of ICTM Ireland, we encourage you to become involved in this publication by keeping us informed of your work on a regular basis.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who attended and who contributed to the success of the recent ICTM conference (Ensemble: Playing Together) in Limerick. There has been lots of ICTM activity since then – work is progressing on the on- line journal which will be launched towards the end of the year, plans are underway for participation in the Festival of World Cultures in July, and a number of research groups are compiling information for the Contents website www.ictm.ie. Thanks to all the committee members and sub-group members for their Conference / Festival of World Cultures 2 continued commitment; a big thanks to Thomas Johnston who has done a great job on designing and An Insight Track 3 developing Spéis. Young Researcher Project 4 Research in Ireland 5 Remember, ICTM Ireland is for and about you, the ICTM Ireland Member Events Listings 6 members, so please do come forward with any Recent & Forthcoming Publications 8 suggestions as to how to make it into the valuable Recently Completed Theses 10 resource and network it has the potential to become. Upcoming Conferences / Funding 11

Liz Doherty, Chair ICTM Ireland Call for Contributions to Spéis 12

Compiled and Edited by ! Thomas Johnston and Liz Doherty Contact Spéis at [email protected] Spéis Recent and Upcoming Activities of ICTM Ireland

ICTM Ireland 5th Annual Conference 2010

A selection of images from the annual ICTM Ireland Conference held on the 26th-28th February at Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick. This year’s conference theme was ‘Ensemble: Playing Together’. Our Keynote Speaker was Professor Tim Cooley, (University of , Santa Barbara), Editor of the SEM Journal Ethnomusicology and Author of key research text "Shadows in the Field" (2008). He was introduced by Professor Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin (Irish World Academy of Music and Dance) at our keynote event held at the Georgian House, Pery Square on, Saturday Feb 27th. The keynote was followed by a conference dinner and session at Dolan's, Limerick. We were also joined this year by distinguished scholars Professor Marcello Sorce Keller (Musical Anthropology of the Mediterranean) & Dr Britta Sweers (Electric Folk: The Changing Face of English Traditional Music) who will contribute towards and review our proceedings. For further images and details of the 5th ICTM Ireland Annual Conference visit

Dr. Catherine Foley & Dr. Steve Coleman Prof. Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin Shannon Burns & Prof. Marcello Sorce Keller Prof. Tim Cooley & Dr. Britta Sweers

ICTM Ireland at the Dun!Laoghaire Festival of World Cultures

This year, for the first time, ICTM Ireland will have a presence at the Dún Laoghaire Festival of World Cultures, which takes place on July 23rd-25th. (see: http://www.festivalofworldcultures.com/). This is the largest 'world music' event in Ireland, and has grown in popularity since it began 10 years ago.

This year ICTM Ireland have been invited to hold a public discussion forum event at the Kingston Hotel, Dun Laoghaire on Saturday 24th July. A panel of ICTM Ireland members are invited to present their research and answer questions regarding their work. At the Festival of World Cultures event we aim to strike a balance between research carried out within and outside Ireland and we will encourage visiting musicians to sit in and respond to the presentations.

If you would like to participate in this discussion at the Festival of World Cultures send an outline of your research presentation (100 word) by 1st June to Tony Langlois at: [email protected]

2 16 ICTM Ireland OCTOBER SATURDAY in association with DANCE RESEARCH FORUM IRELAND

THE present INSIGHT TRACK

hosted by The Irish World Academy of Music and Dance University of Limerick

ICTM Ireland in association with Dance Research Forum Ireland this year invite postgraduate students involved in study and research in the disciplines of music, song or dance in Ireland to attend and participate in The Insight Track, a one day event taking place in the new Irish World Academy of Music and Dance building at the University of Limerick on Saturday 16th October. The Insight Track is an event where experienced facilitators will deliver workshops designed to support researchers in various interrelated areas of their research and working lives. Participants in this year’s The Insight Track workshops will be introduced to the Alexander Technique and its benefits in terms of some of the most common difficulties experienced by research students from the anxiety often associated with performing, presenting, and public speaking, to the discomfort of sitting in front of a computer for many hours. Another workshop will focus on ways of improving one’s writing skills and strategies, finding satisfaction in engaging in regular and productive writing, and integrating writing into one’s working life. There will be much opportunity for discussion, reflection, playing, singing and dancing throughout the day. Full details of the event, including information on registration, schedule etc. will be available soon at www.ictm.ie and www.danceresearchforumireland.com For further information on The Insight Track contact ICTM Ireland student representative Thomas Johnston ([email protected]) or DRFI Student Representative Breandán de Gallaí ([email protected]).

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HOSTED BY STARTS Keep up to date with The Insight Track at: www.ictm.ie IRISH WORLD ACADEMY OF MUSIC AND DANCE 10:30 AM 16/10/10 UNIVERSITY OF LIMERICK and www.danceresearchforumireland.org Spéis Upcoming Activities of ICTM Ireland

This year ICTM Ireland invite post-primary music teachers and their students to participate in Listen Local, the ICTM Ireland Young Researcher Project 2011. Listen Local will focus on ‘listening’ through post-primary music curricula. The project is open to all music students in all years and ideal for Transition Year and Leaving Certificate Applied students. Listen Local will provide an opportunity for students to develop their listening and research skills as well as knowledge of music in their community. Any music teachers who are interested in taking part in Listen Local please can contact Avril McLoughlin at [email protected]. Participating music students will become members of a dedicated website where they can upload materials relating to their projects and discuss their projects with participating students from other schools. Each student group will work towards submitting aspects of their projects at the end of each stage (see below: What is involved?).

THE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR TRADITIONAL MUSIC, IRELAND

invite you and your music students to participate in the ICTM Ireland YOUNG RESEARCHER PROJECT What is ICTM Ireland? 2011 The International Council for Traditional Music is one of the largest and most international organisations for the study of traditional music and dance in culture. ICTM Ireland is one of 33 National Committees of ICTM and as such, brings a local focus to the activities of ICTM. While is at the very core of ICTM Ireland, the wide range of music played, studied, and researched on the island of Ireland has a particular relevance for the organisation.

What is the Young Researcher Project? • The focus of the 2011 Project is ‘Listening through the post-primary music curricula’ • Students develop their listening and research skills, as well as knowledge of music making in their community • The project is open to ALL years • It is particularly suitable as a Transition Year project • Students work in groups and produce a poster for the chance to present their project at the 2011 ICTM Ireland Annual Conference (date & venue TBC)

What is involved? • Listen Local will take place over 12-weeks where YOU choose which days to work on the project with your students. The project will be divided into three stages: 1. Learn to Listen, Listen to Learn (4-weeks pre-Halloween mid-term 2010) 2. Research Skills for the Beginner Researcher (4-weeks post-Halloween mid-term 2010) 3. Poster Preparation (4-weeks post-Christmas 2011)

What support do I get from ICTM Ireland? • Dedicated ICTM Young Researcher website where your students can discuss their projects with Contact Avril McLoughlin at: participating students from other schools [email protected] for further • Teacher section with resources uploaded every week 4 information or if you would like to take • Telephone support to occur at various intervals over part in the ICTM Ireland the course of the project Young Researcher Project 2011 Visit www.ictm.ie Spéis Research in Ireland at www.ictm.ie

In each edition of Spéis we focus on the research interests of one of ICTM Ireland’s members who will be included in the Research in Ireland section of the ICTM Ireland website. To give you a preview of this information portal, we are thankful to Deirdre Ní Chonghaile for providing the following abstract of her paper which she presented at the British Forum for Ethnomusicology Conference, Oxford University on the 10th April 2010.

“No man is an island”: some ethical challenges of Deirdre Ní Chonghaile's PhD research concerns the doing fieldwork at home in a small community traditional music of her home, the Aran Islands. A writer, lecturer, broadcaster and fiddle-player, she is In this paper, I reflect on the experience of researching and involved with the local folklore project Bailiúchán representing the indigenous musical life, past and present, Béaloideas Árann. Her research resulted in the 12-part of a small and, indeed, marginalised community to which I radio series Bailiúchán Bhairbre (2006-2007) for RTÉ belong. The physical, economic and cultural Raidió na Gaeltachta. marginalisation of this small community is important because it makes locals protective of what many of them view as an endangered way of life. This attitude of protectionism affects my fieldwork when locals censor the musical knowledge, or knowledge about music, that they Francis Ward (University of Limerick) is share with me and with my recording machines. However, currently working on the ICTM Ireland this paper is more concerned with the way in which I find myself censoring my representations of local musical Research in Ireland page. Research in Ireland knowledge. will serve as an information portal for research The protective reflex that causes me to censor my representations stems not just from my interest in protecting being carried out on the island of Ireland in and promoting music that interests and stimulates me; it also stems from my identity as a member of the local Irish musics and ethnomusicology. The page community. This identity means I share many of the concerns locals have for their way of life. It also means will contain an overview of research being that, as a local and as a resident, I am subject to local social mores. I find, therefore, that this identity has a major carried out on the island of Ireland at the effect on how I represent local music and musicians. The impulse of self preservation is strong: I have neglected to present time, a database of postgraduate reveal some uncomfortable realities of local life because to do so, while others keep up appearances, could potentially students at Masters and PhD level and an lead to my being ostracised for undermining the community. overview of their research topics, papers In this paper, I consider the ethical dilemma of fudging the facts by omission, of tempering musical knowledge. This presented & published etc., a database of all leads us to question the purpose of ethnomusicology. What are our responsibilities to the music we try to represent and ‘professional’ researchers and a brief overview of to the people who create it, people who feel a sense of responsibility and ownership towards it and to whom we are their research interests and publications, and indebted for helping us? Do we end up simply representing the truths we can bear to live with? How do I reconcile my links to any funding available. If you would desire to represent accurately the truth of local music with my desire to support the local musical tradition and the like to be included on the Research in Ireland marginalised community that tries to maintain it? By bringing this paper to Oxford, I hope to gain some page contact Francis Ward at: international perspective on these questions. 5 [email protected] Spéis ICTM Ireland Member Events Listings

Blas International Summer School of Irish If you are involved with an event that may be of interest to other ICTM Ireland members please Traditional Music and Dance is an forward material (250 word) and images to Thomas internationally accredited summer school hosted annually by the Irish World Academy of Music and Johnston at [email protected] by September 10th Dance and set on the campus of the University of Limerick, Ireland. In its 14th year, Blas 2010 will run from June 21st through July 2nd.

Blas has a well developed ethos where access to the best of tuition from some of the most renowned musicians, singers and dancers is combined with classes and lectures given by experts in the academic study of our traditions. This follows the overriding ethos of all Irish World Academy of Music and Dance endeavours, where performance and reflection are seen as equal of stature and mutually beneficial. At Blas, Master classes in instrument/voice specific technique and repertoire are supplemented by lectures, illustrated talks, workshops and other activities that help to give the broadest possible understanding of the tradition as well as advancing practical skills.

National Folklore Collection UCD and used by kind permission of Dr. Ríonach Uí Ógáín, Director of the archive This years Blas sees continue as artist-in- residence where he will be joined by the Academy’s Joe Heaney Irish Song Man most recently-announced resident Martin Hayes. Bright Star of the West Other tutors include Colin Dunne (dance), Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin (piano), Muireann Nic Amhaloibh (voice), Bright Star of the West is a project funded by IRCHSS Siobhán Peoples (fiddle), Derek Hickey, (box), and supported by NUI Galway and the Joe Heaney Breandán de Gallaí (dance) Niall Keegan (flute), Archive, University of Washington, Seattle. Beginning Catherine Foley, Mats Melin and Orfhlaith Ní Bhriain in September 2009 and continuing until August 2010, (dance), John Carty (fiddle) and Sandra Joyce (voice), outcomes of the project will include a book, to be Geraldine Cotter (piano), Eileen O’ Brien (fiddle), Jim published by Oxford University Press, on Joe Heaney’s Higgins (bodhrán), and Ciarán Coughlan (piano). work and life by Lillis Ó Laoire, NUI Galway and Sean Williams, a former student of Heaney, of The An exciting development for Blas 2010, is that Paul Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington. A Brady, one of Ireland’s most enduringly popular singer- postdoctoral researcher at NUI Galway, Dr. Virginia songwriters recently announced his first-ever music Stevens Blankenhorn, has been working on digitising bursary, the Paul Brady Blas Scholarship. This will and transcribing the Heaney material which amounts to provide !20,000 in endowment funds over three over 300 sound files of singing, seanchas and some years, offering 25 places for deserving musicians & lilting. Some visual materials will also be included. dancers on the Blas programme. Paul Brady will also Micheál Mac Lochlainn and Marian Nic an Iomaire be joining the summer school to deliver the ‘Francis (also NUI Galway) have been engaged in creating and Roche’ lecture on the afternoon of Thursday 1st July. designing an information database and website and Dr. Blankenhorn has travelled to the University of Further information on the summer school, updates on Washington to examine and copy some of the original tutors, concerts, seminars and performances at Blas tapes. The website will function as a teaching and 2010 is available from: Ernestine Healy – Director of research resource for students and will be accessible Blas International Summer School of Irish Music and to the public. For further information on Bright Star of Dance, Irish World Academy, University of Limerick, the West contact: Lillis Ó Laoire - Léachtóir, Roinn na Ireland. Telephone: 061-202653 Gaeilge, Scoil na dTeangacha, na Litríochtaí agus na Email:[email protected] website: www.blas.ie gCultur, Fón: +353 91 495709, Facs: +353 91 494522 6 Spéis ICTM Ireland Member Events Listings

Meitheal Summer School started out in 2004 as an experiment based on Folkworks residential Summer School in Durham in the North of England. Meitheal has become a fixture on the Irish Traditional calendar with the summer school combining the familiar concept of master classes in instrument specific technique and repertoire, as found in many summer schools. This is also supplemented with classes in composition and arrangement, lectures, illustrated talks, workshops and other activities that help to give the broadest possible understanding of the tradition as well as advancing practical skills. The lectures and workshops offer intense engagements on a wide variety of music, song, and dance subjects, from multiple perspectives, on the ways in which ‘Tradition’ is conceived, performed, practiced, Lúnasa Lá Nua launch at the Button contested, and lived. Factory, Temple Bar () May 27th

One of the greatest attractions of Meitheal is its ICTM Ireland member Tracy Crawford of Bally-O collaboration with other festivals and organisations Promotions has been busy recently with the release such as Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, National of Irish traditional music band Lúnasa’s highly Concert Hall, Joseph Browne Spring School, Corofin anticipated new album Lá Nua (New Day). The new Trad fest, Ennis Trad Fest, the Nyah fest, Kilfenora album, their first studio effort in four years, follows the fest, and Féile Lios Tuathail who provide critically acclaimed 2006 release Sé, which received opportunities for the Meitheal students. This year for worldwide praise; “The material, both original and the first time there will be solo and group traditional, becomes a springboard for explorations performances by Meitheal students at The World that go beyond folk, dipping toes into chamber music, Fleadh. jazz and beyond.” NPR, USA.

For Further information on Meitheal, write to Lúnasa will embark on a U.S. tour in support of Lá Ernestine Healy or Gary Shannon at Nua beginning April 8th and tour Ireland and the U.K. [email protected] or phone 0876704465 in May. The new album, their first studio effort in four (meitheal phone). years, follows the critically acclaimed 2006 release Sé, which received worldwide praise; “The material, both original and traditional, becomes a springboard for explorations that go beyond folk, dipping toes into chamber music, jazz and beyond.” NPR, USA. Lúnasa will embark on a U.S. tour in support of Lá Nua beginning April 8th and tour Ireland and the U.K. in May.

Please visit www.lunasa.ie for tour dates and more information contact: Tracy Crawford, Bally-O Promotions M - + 353 (0) 86 852 0975. E - [email protected]

Visit

for more ICTM Ireland member events 7 Spéis Recent & Forthcoming Publications by ICTM Ireland members

January 2009, after 23 Focus: Irish years of being safely Traditional Music by packed away, Karen Sean Williams is an Klausner Chute took introduction not only to the taped interviews the instrumental and and travel journal from vocal traditions of the her trip to Ireland and and wrote about her , but adventures and the also to Irish music in the collected stories the context of the Irish Clancy and Makem diaspora. families and friends Ireland's size relative to shared with her. Britain or to the mainland of Europe is relatively small, yet its Memories from Family impact on musical and Friends is the traditions beyond its shores has been significant. adventure of a single woman following fate’s “nudges” Intended for non-Irish readers, Focus: Irish Traditional that led her to ’s house where he told her Music offers a perspective on Irish music rarely seen: the of the struggles he and his brother Tom had in a new interweaving of music with dance, film, language, history, country, America. To Peg Clancy’s house, where she and other interdisciplinary features of Ireland and its speaks of the family life they grew up in and her big diaspora. brothers, Paddy and Tom and the little dreamer brother, Part I: Irish Music in Place and Time, focuses on the Liam. To a shy and candid talk with development of musical traditions and their linkages with about his life. To Northern Ireland where the warmth of historical trends and events in Ireland. Mona, Nancy and Jack Makem’s stories of their little Part II: Music Traditions Abroad and at Home, locates brother Tommy and mother where in Irish music within a larger 'Celtic' music framework, deep contrast to the cold occupied, “troubled” streets of including the North American Irish diaspora, and focuses their home town. For fear of the stories being lost on the instruments and instrumental forms. forever, she shares them now. You don’t have to be a Part III: Focusing In, closely examines vocal music in fan or be Irish to appreciate Karen’s adventures Irish-Gaelic and English, and in doing so reveals the core collecting the stories of these four remarkable men, values of a global marketing phenomenon. Paddy, Tom and and Tommy Makem. The accompanying CD presents both traditional and Published by: Wandering Rose Publishing (2009) contemporary sounds of Irish music at home and abroad. Published by: Routledge (2009)

Hill, Juniper. 2009. “Rebellious Pedagogy, Ideological Transformation, and Creative Freedom in Finnish Contemporary .” Ethnomusicology Vol. 53 (1): 86-114.

Hill, Juniper. 2009. “The Influence of Conservatory Folk Music Programmes: The Sibelius Academy in Comparative Context.” Ethnomusicology Forum Vol. 18 (2): 205-239.

Hill, Juniper. 2009. “Transformative Teaching Methods in Finnish Folk Music and Wilderness Education.” Musik im interkulturellen Dialog: Festschrift für Max Peter Baumann, edited by Karoline Oehme and Nevzat Çiftçi. Bamberg, Germany: Forschungsstelle für fränkische Volksmusik, pages 91-102.

Langlois, Tony. 2009 “Music and Politics in North Africa”.,Chapter in Music and the Play of Power: Music, Politics and Ideology in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia. Laudan Nooshin (ed), Ashgate Press.

Langlois, Tony. 2009 “Pirates of the Mediterranean : Moroccan Music Video and Technology”. In journal Music, Sound and the Moving Image, 3:1, pp71-85.

Contact ICTM Ireland at [email protected] if you would like to include recent or forthcoming publications in the October edition of Spéis 8 Spéis Recently Completed Theses

Unsealing the Lips of Old Country Folk: An Analysis of john Doherty’s ‘The Four Posts of the Bed’ by Conor Caldwell (Bmus, MA) Queens University John Doherty (1900-1980) is one of the most important and influential fiddle players in the history of Irish music. His recordings have impacted upon the way that we view Irish music today, not only through the sheer virtuosity of his technique and style, but also through the significant contribution he made to Irish music through the organic assimilation of Scottish dance music into his repertoire. His fluent interpretation of Irish and Scottish piping music (he was descended from An Píobaire Mór, the great Turloch Mac Sweeney (c. 1831-1916), from the parish of , Co.Donegal), coupled with an insatiable appetite for the music of the celebrated Scottish violinist James Scott Skinner (1843-1927) pushed fiddle playing in a new and exciting direction.1 Doherty was well versed in the music of Michael Coleman (1891-1945), Paddy Killoran (1904-1965) and other notable recording Irish musicians of the era, ably demonstrating all of Coleman’s intricate variations in the canonical reel “Bonny Kate” on several different recordings.2 Doherty’s style was unique, although firmly rooted in his family’s mould as borne out by his brothers Mickey and Simon, who were both recorded by collectors. At the heart of a vast repertoire was a stable diet of local tunes (including highlands, barndances, lancers, and a smattering of polkas), all played with an intricate knowledge of the dance tradition.3 “The Four Posts of the Bed” is a relatively common tune in Donegal, and is still widely played, usually by a solo performer.4 Both John and Mickey Doherty recorded the tune for collectors, with John’s versions collected by Peter Kennedy (The Pedlar’s Pack. Folktrax – 074, 1952) and by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (John Doherty. CCÉ, 1974), and Mickey by the Irish Folklore Commission (The Gravel Walks. IFC, 1949). The tune is unique in the repertoire for its percussive use of the fiddle and bow, coupled with the employment of left hand pizzicato. A lengthy narrative is attached to the tune, although its validity (like most such stories) can be questioned, but not totally discounted. The first recording of John’s version of the story was made by Peter Kennedy on Folktrax 074 - The Pedlar’s Pack: “[Did you hear the story] about the poor aul travelling fiddler that was going about one time? And he came to a house, and … he asked about stopping to the morning or somehow like that. And the woman, there was a spare bed in the house, and it was…an aul fashioned kind of a bed, and it was made, in the first time, too high. But they put this poor aul fiddler into the bed…and he tumbled over too far out and he came across the bedstock (bedframe) and fell, and he got some of the limbs hurted (sic) - I think it was a knee he got hurted – but he had to be laid up for some days, and he took down the fiddle and he composed this tune, and he called it the four posts of the bed. And you’ll hear throughout the tune the tippin’ of the heel of the bow on the fiddle that…shows you that each tip that I give on the fiddle means a post of the bed”. 1 The Doherty family tree is traced by Alan Feldman and Eamon O’Doherty in The Northern Fiddler. (Belfast: Blackstaff, 1979). The book also contains numerous transcriptions of Doherty’s music (and that of many other fiddlers from Tyrone and Donegal), as well as extensive biographical material. 2 See: Conor Caldwell “Banished to the Shed: John Doherty and Bonnie Kate” in Ulster Folklife. Forthcoming 2011. 3 For more information see: Damhsaí Cúplaí Thír Chonail DVD Dir. Eoghan Mac Giolla Bhríde. Prod. Ciaran O’Maonaigh. Cairdeas na bhFidiléirí, 2007. 4 Peter Campbell of Glenties and Martin McGinley of Raphoe are two players in particular who have made this tune their own in recent years. Generally speaking, in sessions, an older player or listener will request that one of the younger players in the group performs the tune, but occasionally communal performances occur.

An extract from ICTM Ireland member Conor Caldwell’s recently completed MA thesis “Style and Form in the Music of John Doherty: Volume 1” awarded by Queen’s University in November 2009, under the supervision of Dr Martin Dowling. This extract from the first chapter, dealing with the Doherty family repertoire, examines the tune “The Four Posts of the Bed”, and also discusses some of the difficulties that have faced folk music collectors in the twentieth century. Click HERE if you would like to read the article in its entirety or visit Spéis at: Conor Caldwell is currently writing a Phd thesis at Queen's University, Belfast, on the music of John Doherty. Contact Conor at: [email protected] 9 Spéis Recently Completed Theses

Towards a regional understanding of Irish traditional music

by Daithí Kearney

School of Music and School of Geography, University College Cork The geography of Irish traditional music is a complex, popular and largely unexplored element of the narrative of the tradition. Geographical concepts such as the region are recurrent in the discourse of Irish traditional music but regions and their processes are, for the most part, blurred or misunderstood. This thesis explores the geographical approach to the study of Irish traditional music focusing on the concept of the region and, in particular, the role of memory in the construction and diffusion of regional identities. This is a tripartite study considering people, place and music. Each of these elements impacts on our experience of the other. People in some places construct or reinforce their identity through their use of music and the celebration of musicians from that place. The thesis challenges conventional discourse on regional styles that construct an imagined pattern of regions based on subtle musical differences that may, though are not always, shared by people in that region and focuses on the social networks through which the music is disseminated. The thesis also challenges the abandonment of regional styles and the concept of regions in understanding the complex geographies of Irish traditional music. It seeks to find a middle ground between discourse analysis, musical analysis, the experience of music and place, and the representation of music and place. The dissertation is divided into three parts. Part one considers the development of music geography, noting and critiquing the abandonment of useful paradigms in both geography and ethnomusicology in search of new ways of understanding. Of particular interest is the concept of the region but it also considers the study of landscape and the humanist approach in cultural geography. The second part focuses on the discourse and study of regions in Irish traditional music and the various agents and processes that shape the concept of the region in Irish traditional music. The final part presents a case study of Sliabh Luachra combining and applying the various perspectives and paradigms drawn from geographical, ethnomusicological and anthropological sources. It attempts to generate an understanding of Sliabh Luachra as a region in the Irish traditional music narrative that is based on a combination of musical, socio-cultural and locational/environmental factors. The central issue of concern within this thesis is the importance of location, the role of distance and patterns of diffusion. The cultural region is based on a series of social networks and interlinked spaces in which culture evolves and is transmitted or diffused. Greater communications, recording technologies and increased travel and tourism have played an important role in negating the significance of distance on cultural difference yet distance remains a significant factor in the development and evolution of local and regional cultures. While elements of the soundscape and the practices of music making may have become more homogenised, the role of individuals and the individuality of each performance and performance context reinforces the uniqueness of each region. The concept of a sense of place is integral to the narratives of Irish traditional music. The combination of music and place in the design of heritage, the celebration of place within the Irish music tradition and the development of places of pilgrimage present new contexts for a regional understanding of Irish traditional music.

An extract from ICTM Ireland member Daithí Kearney’s recently completed PhD Thesis “Towards a regional understanding of Irish traditional music”. Daithí has an ongoing research in interest regarding monuments to Irish traditional music and Irish traditional music generally, especially the connections between music and place. Click HERE if you would like to read the article in its entirety or visit Spéis at: Daithí can be contacted at [email protected]

10 Spéis Upcoming Conferences

Conference: 41st World Conference of the ICTM Date: 13-19 July 2011 Place: St John's, Newfoundland Visit http://www.mun.ca/ictm

Conference: National Graduate Conference for Ethnomusicology “Doing Ethnomusicology: Implications and Applications” Date: 20-22 September 2010 Place: IMR, London. This three-day conference will be hosted by the Institute of Musical Research (http://music.sas.ac.uk/) in central London and supported by the British Forum for Ethnomusicology (http://www.bfe.org.uk/).

Conference: Current Trends in Ethnomusicological Research The 2nd International Workshop in Hanover Hildesheim Date: 23-27 June 2010 Place: University for Music and Drama, Hanover, Germany

Research Funding Opportunities

Visit for various research funding agencies which support research in music and dance in Ireland. If you are aware of other sources of funding email details to [email protected]. As well as the following funding bodies, your university, institution or organisation may also offer funding opportunities that can support you in your research.

Culture Ireland is the Irish State Agency that promotes the best of Ireland’s arts and culture internationally and assists in the development of Ireland’s international cultural relations. Visit www.cultureireland.gov.ie/ The Fulbright Programme was established in Ireland in 1957 to provide scholarships to Irish citizens to lecture, research or study in the and for the US citizens to lecture, research or study in Ireland. Visit www.fulbright.ie

Arts organisations, artists, and groups (i.e. a non-profit organisation or community group or those working in the health and education sector) may apply for financial support from the Arts Council. Visit www.artscouncil.ie

The Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences operates a suite of interlinked Research Schemes. The IRCHSS Government of Ireland Post- Graduate Scholarships and Government of Ireland Post-Doctoral Fellowships fund research at pre- and post-doctoral levels. Visit www.irchss.ie 11 Contribute to the October 2010 edition of Spéis

BULLETIN OF THE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR TRADITIONAL MUSIC IRELAND

Send material (including images) to Thomas Johnston at: [email protected] by September 10th under one of the following headings:

• Research in Ireland (max 400 word) • ICTM Ireland Member Events Listings (max 250 word) • ICTM Ireland Member Reviews (max 500 word) • Recent & Forthcoming Publications by ICTM Ireland members (max 250 word) • Recently Completed Theses (max 500 word) • Upcoming Conferences / Funding Opportunities (max 250 word)

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