There is always a welcoming buzz of familiarity at the Irish Arts Center. On a night in late April, This Is How We Fly made their New York City debut. The quartet of fiddle, clarinet, drums, and percussive dance had drawn in a full house for opening night: few sharply-dressed Wall Street types, an award-winning violinist (who looked borderline indecent without his haughty … [Read more...] about Foot Tapping…
Modern Trad in New York
Music Archives
Foot Tapping…
Cherishing Joanie
As the Cherish the Ladies 30th Anniversary Tour begins, Kristin Cotter McGowan talks to founding member, the award-winning whistle and flute player Joanie Madden. Irish music was the soundtrack to life for Joanie Madden and other Irish American kids growing up in Woodlawn, a heavily Irish section of the Bronx, NY, back in the 1970s. “I was lucky – even if you didn’t want to … [Read more...] about Cherishing Joanie
Accolades for Ward’s Irish Music Archives
Following the Award of Merit from the American Association for State and Local History, the Ward Irish Music Archives, the largest public collection of Irish music in America, is receiving national attention again this year. The Association of College Research Libraries posted a positive review of the archives in the organization’s December 2014 issue. J. G. Matthews, of … [Read more...] about Accolades for Ward’s Irish Music Archives
Gemma Hayes:
Crowd-sourcing Her Sound
The Irish musician, singer-songwriter, and composer Gemma Hayes on making music her way.
I’ve never done an interview with a baby before,” says an apologetic Gemma Hayes who has just run off to comfort her crying son. One-year-old Max hasn’t take kindly to being left with the nanny while his mum sits down to talk about her new album.
“Oh yeah, the album,” she begins … [Read more...] about Gemma Hayes:
Crowd-sourcing Her Sound
Songs for the Ancestors
Judy Collins on finding inspiration in the experience of her antecedents. Shortly before Judy Collins was inducted into the Irish America Hall of Fame in New Ross, County Wexford, this magazine interviewed her. In the article entitled El Troubadour she cited her father as her inspiration. She said that Charles Thomas Collins was a great singer and musician who graduated summa … [Read more...] about Songs for the Ancestors