Dingle musician Aoife Granville joined in the celebrations of International women s day this week by organising women from around the world to play an unladylike instrument .
A flute player and teacher as well as an academic, Aoife began a quest to look at the history of women in flute playing and found to her surprise that the instrument was very rarely played by women before the 1970s. There was a perception in Irish traditional music circles that some instruments were more suitable for women and that the flute was not one of them. It wasn t considered ladylike, said Aoife, who is herself an acclaimed flute player.
The Rolling Wave on RTÉ Radio 1 marked International Women’s Day by inviting female traditional musicians to choose music from some of their favourite female artists - listen above.
Songs and tunes were chosen by musicians Geraldine Cotter, Máire Ní Ghráda, Róisín Chambers, Rosie Stewart, Michelle Mulcahy, Therese McInerney and June McCormack and you can listen back to it here.
Also included in the show was a special track from Mná na Feadóige Móra .
The Rolling Wave presenter Aoife Nic Cormaic
Last October flute player Aoife Granville joined Aoife Nic Cormaic on
The Rolling Wave to talk about the history of women flute players in Irish Traditional Music, and they found surprisingly few recordings of women playing the flute prior to the 1970s. The earliest recording played on the programme was from Teresa Gardiner, recorded in 1959 - listen back to the show here.
Traditional musicians are beginning to discuss what the post-COVID world will sound like once pandemic restrictions are lifted and life begins to return to normality.
But, according to Eoin Stan O Sullivan, the Newmarket-based Musician In Residence for Sliabh Luachra, musicians are considering whether they will be playing more gigs in community halls and other large venue settings rather than pubs when restrictions begin to be relaxed. There are questions whether many pubs will survive the pandemic and whether people will be willing to go back to pubs to hear live music, he said. During last summer, we were planning to organise a series of music events in some of the new digital hubs around Sliabh Luachra and stream them online - but we had to rethink that.
To say that Mikie O Shea leads an interesting life would be somewhat of an understatement! Born and raised in Nadd on the sunny slopes of the Boggeragh Mountains, Mikie now resides in the land of the Rising Sun where he works in international education and as a gifted musician also promotes and highlights Irish traditional music in Japan and globally through his website. I emigrated from Ireland to pursue a career in international education in 2011, having spent three years teaching (and learning the ropes from my fabulous colleagues) at St. Brigid s National school in Blackwater, Co. Wexford, Mikie told The Corkman.
Cork s Greatest Records: Conal Ó Gráda and his influential 1990 album, The Top of Coom
The Ballincollig man drew heavily on Cúil Aodha influences for a record named after the highest pub in Ireland
Conal Ó Gráda recorded The Top of Coom over five days at Tadhg Kelleher’s Sulán Studios in Baile Mhúirne.
Wed, 03 Feb, 2021 - 20:00
Pet O’Connell
Irish traditional musicians take many winding roads to learning, but picking up tunes from a whistle-player who is steering a car with his elbows is a route less travelled now than it might have been in the 1970s.