Prior to 1961, public performance of Irish traditional music in Galway took place primarily in the form of céilís in large dancehalls — namely in the Hangar, the Commercial and the Astaire. These were enormously popular — remember the hundreds of bicycles parked outside the Hangar on a Sunday night — but they began to go out of fashion in the sixties and were regarded as old fashioned and backward.
Hardiman and Beyond: The Arts and Culture of Galway since 1820 is the title of a new book being launched this Sunday as part of Cúirt. Edited by John Cunningham and Ciaran McDonough, it takes as its starting point the renowned James Hardiman’s History of the Town and County of the Town of Galway, published […]