Irish Music

What does it mean to carry a culture in song? From mythic bards and medieval harpers to rebellious ballads, bodhrán beats, and Beyoncé-backed fiddles, A History of Irish Music: Bardds to Bono tells the story of Irish music like never before. This sweeping, lyrical history explores how music shaped—and was shaped by—the Irish people across centuries of joy, sorrow, migration, resistance, and reinvention. Travel from candlelit sessions in County Clare to sold-out stadiums, from sean-nós singers to TikTok trad stars. Learn how the humble fiddle survived famine, how Riverdance took the ...

1916: Betty O’Fogarty is proud and clever. Spurred on by Betty's belief in her husband Seamus’s talent as a violin-maker and her desire to escape rural life, the couple elopes to Dublin. As Dublin is plunged into chaos as the Easter Rebellion of 1916, Betty gives birth to her first child to the sound of gunfire and shelling. A hundred years later, secrets churn their way to the surface, and Betty’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren uncover both Betty’s ruthlessness and her unique brand of heroism.

When Daisy Fitzpatrick discovers a treasure trove of gold in a sea cave near her Granny’s shanty on Dingle Bay, she rents out her art studio in Dingle, buys an old mansion in Killarney, and overnight, finds herself a local celebrity with a wonderful new life. But when the real owner lays claim to the gold, she loses everything, including her fickle, new friends. Can Daisy find it in herself to start over? With Cavan’s help, the sea captain’s ghost, and her granny’s quilt to point the way, the quest for more gold is soon underway. But when a priest ends up dead and a pirate takes up ...

Hear the call of Primeval. In pursuit of an enemy, Elaria and her friends enter Primeval—the ancient forest that covers most of Tír na nÓg. But priorities soon shift as a much larger danger arises. Primeval is dying and growing all at once; threatening to consume the Jewel Kingdoms. Can the Spellsinger save the forest or is this only a prelude of the destruction to come?

Following in the grand tradition of such Irish memoirs as Angela’s Ashes and Are You Somebody?, Liam Clancy relates his life’s story in a raucously funny and star-studded account of moving from provincial Ireland to the bars and clubs of New York City, to the cusp of fame as a member of Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers.

With three novels and two short story collections published, Kevin Barry has steadily established his stature as one of the finest writers not just in Ireland but in the English language. All of his prodigious gifts of language, character, and setting in these 11 exquisite stories transport the listener to an Ireland both timeless and recognizably modern. Shot through with dark humor and the uncanny power of the primal and unchanging Irish landscape, the stories in That Old Country Music represent some of the finest fiction being written today.

In the 1980s Jimmy Rabbitte formed the Commitments, a ragtag, blue-collar collective of Irish youths determined to bring the soul music stylings of James Brown and Percy Sledge to Dublin. Time proves a great equalizer for Jimmy as he’s now approaching 50 with a loving wife, four kids, and a recent cancer diagnosis that leaves him feeling shattered and frightened. Jimmy still loves his music, and he still loves to hustle - his new thing is finding old bands and then finding the people who loved them enough to pay for their resurrected albums.

In part, an exercise in coming to terms with and making sense of life and mortality following the loss of a beloved father; in part, a reflection on an unlikely journey with her siblings through the music industry; in part, a meditation on family, on music and on creativity; and, in part, a shout-out for love and for hope. This is a very personal - at times very funny, at times deeply moving - book from an iconic figure in popular music.

Ireland is a small island — rugged, rain-soaked, and far from the centers of empire —yet its influence has stretched across continents, cultures, and centuries. From the poetry of Yeats to the code of Boole, from the ballads sung in rebellion to the submarines launched in revolution, the Irish have left fingerprints on the modern world that are as enduring as they are unexpected. This book is a tribute to the impact—real, verifiable, often remarkable - in which Irishmen and women altered the course ofhistory, influenced thought, reshaped societies, and touched lives well beyond the ...

She’s snowed in with a grumpy musician. He’s hiding a broken heart—and a song he never meant her to hear. When a sudden storm traps Orla Keane in a remote Irish cottage with reclusive musician Ronan Hayes, sparks start to fly between the sunny primary school teacher and the brooding songwriter. She’s all warmth and chatter. He’s all silence and shadows. As snow blankets Dooncarra, Orla uncovers the melody Ronan’s been hiding—along with the pain that inspired it. But when the storm clears, can they carry that connection back into real life? Or will the magic of those quiet ...

Summer approaches. Then, one afternoon outside the Orchestra School of Music, Tommy mentions to Head Teacher, Tina, that his uncle is going away for two weeks and needs a place to park his ice cream van. At first, Tina has reservations, but Tommy soon wins her around with the notion of ice cream on demand. With the van under their control, the school composes new jingles to attract customers. As well, Tommy suggests they double it as a tour bus. After Tina commissions new banners to hang on the van, she gets word from the council, that as part of a community initiative, the school can put ...

"This is more than a charming Irish memoir. The voice of a spirited young girl sets the perfect tone to deliver Irish history, the determination of a family to make their way into another country, and the importance of music." - The New York Times best selling author Jacqueline Sheehan. "A splendid read." - Oliver P. Rafferty, Professor of History, Boston College. A richly evocative memoir of resilience, ambition, and music that traces the extraordinary journey of John and May O’Carroll - Irish independence fighters who, after years of periodic imprisonment, began anew in Depression-era ...

Professor Vanessa Naylor has a questionable gift – musical warnings that pop into her mind ahead of significant events. When a homicide occurs on college premises, Vanessa’s unusual talent might be all that can keep her one step ahead of the killer… It’s the start of another term at Edwardston Music College. Vanessa and her colleagues are busy assessing their first-year students, among them a multi-instrumentalist prodigy, Remmy Dunford, who creates a stir on campus, but not as much as the disappearance and subsequent murder of one of the students. After Vanessa is first on the ...

*This book is part of a COLLECTION not a series, different characters, different settings. They all center around people with "real" jobs, (teachers, firemen, construction workers, roadies...) unlike my other collections which feature rock stars and royalty. They can be read in any order.) * When an unhappy youth leaves him damaged, will Teddy Mckee be able to find love? “Teddy Passmore McKee was born in Cork, Ireland, with a limp and a chip on his shoulder that threw his balance off all the more.” When he falls in love with the dark haired beauty born of an Irish father and a Spanish ...

Mike Hanrahan, cook and teacher, songwriter and musician, takes us back stage and into the kitchens of a bohemian, international and surprisingly foodie group of Irish household names, including Ronnie Drew, Finbar Furey, Maura O’Connell, Leslie Dowdall, Pat Shortt, Eleanor Shanley and Sharon Shannon. Mike penned hit singles ‘Beautiful Affair’ and ‘Walk Away’ for Stockton’s Wing, from which a world of touring and behind-the-scenes escapades began.

At the Orchestra School of Music in Waterford, with the help of Tommy, Tina is getting her students ready for an Easter concert that is to take place in a local castle. Tommy, having suggested an Easter egg hunt for afterwards, wants to help Tina with the hiding. But she's having none of it and hides them herself. However, the following morning, when she returns to the castle, the eggs have disappeared. With Tommy again by her side, the pair follow a trail of tin foil which leads them to the culprit, Hugo, a chocolate eating, music loving bunny. Hugo's Easter Concert is another delightful ...

Looking Through You: Northern Chronicles, the sequel to renowned Belfast poet and author Gerald Dawe’s critically acclaimed In Another World: Van Morrison and Belfast, is the evocative record of the musical, literary and artistic influences that inspired and forged Dawe’s awakening as a poet, and his career in Irish literature. Taking its bearings from Belfast in the 1960s, The Beatles’ Rubber Soul album and the energising shock of reading the great American poets Robert Lowell and Sylvia Plath, Dawe’s engagingly lyrical style has produced an evocative and memorable record of the ...

Looking for your next satisfying book discussion with friends or your reading group? This guide is written without spoilers. Read it as a warm-up for the actual text, or use it to refresh your memory and jump-start your discussions with your book group and book-loving friends. In this guide to Roz Morris's novel Ever Rest, you can: Explore the author’s own thoughts and intentions for the book - and decide how they match up with your own. Discover the themes that emerged for other readers - and decide whether you agree. Discover the books that inspired the author’s treatment of settings ...

Als der Gesandte Hiram B. Otis auf Schloss Canterville einzieht, ist er vor dem Gespenst, das dort spuken soll, gewarnt worden...