Martin Reilly Lecture Series

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Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: "He [She] got this Air out of the Night”: Environments of Irish Music. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar. Irish Studies’ Seminar Series-Spring 2021 – School of Geography, Archaeology and Irish Studies, in association with the Moore Institute, NUI Galway. This seminar showcases three recently graduated PhD researchers in Irish Studies, Dr Malachy Egan, Dr Michael Lydon, Dr Rory McCabe, all of whom ha...

Research Matters #14 (Dr Méabh Ní Fhuartháin): Surely, it's time to dance...
Breaking from the effort to make a connection with the current conditions of isolation and social distancing, this final post in April's Research Matters series from the Centre for Irish Studies, focuses instead on that most social of activities, dance and in particular, Irish dance in Galway in the twentieth century. A key moment in the history of Irish dance in Galway, and one which garnered national and international attention, was in the context of President John F. Kennedy's visit to the city on 29 June 1963.

For that auspicious occasion, a commemorative dance was choreographed by Gerry Holmes, originally from Tyrone (scroll to 4:47 at this link to see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDBoi0nu70M ).
Titled the Sword and Mace, it’s an ensemble dance illustrating the typical steps and style of competition dance of the period at a micro-choreographic level. At a macro-choreographic level, it has a simplified but effective programmatic narrative arc, representing, though not in any programmatic sense, the historical story of the sword and mace of Galway. Holmes and Máire Stafford, an important figure in Irish language circles in Galway, produced the performance. Dancers were drawn from across different dance schools in Galway including the Reardon, Philbin, Carty, Flaherty schools, and the dancers wore their school costumes as identifying signifiers. The Philbin dancers can be seen here in green and gold and Peggy Carty’s dancers in red and white. This and much more on dance in Galway during the last century is more widely explored in the essay 'Genealogies of Irish Dance in Galway, 1922 to 1993' as part of the forthcoming collection Hardiman and Beyond: the Arts and Culture in Galway, 1820-2020, edited by John Cunningham and Ciaran McDonough (Arden). For more on the publication see the webinar which was hosted by the Moore Institute on this: www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=842078292972656&ref=watch_permalink

RESEARCH MATTERS #2, Dr Verena Commins: Willie Clancy, mid-tune, in Miltown Malbay, Co Clare: ‘Coppers and Face Mask’?

The construction of place is an ongoing process rather than an ontological given. The contribution of Willie Clancy to the construction of Miltown Malbay and West Clare, as a musical place, a bed-rock for ITM practice, is a process that began during Clancy’s own life-time (1918-1973). It has continued through the annual Willie Clancy Summer School (1973-) and is now cemented in this bronze iteration by Co. Clare sculptor Shane Gilmore (2013).

The raising of any statue is a commemorative act of public recognition and while all statues are designed to stand for years, post-unveiling, many slip into the cultural background, once the initial commemorative function has been fulfilled. Not so the sculpture of Willie Clancy on Miltown’s Main Street. The immediacy of the eye-level contact created by his seated, piping performance, embeds the town’s premier piper into the vernacular of the streetscape, as familiar as the public houses (and bridal emporium) outside of which he is perched.
The inclusion (and protection!) of Willie Clancy’s statue amid the current crisis underscores his continuing relevance and provides a symbolic site for both a community response and call to action.
Clearly no one wants Willie to get the Coronavirus!
Thanks to Tommy Keane for the photograph.

Listen to a field recording of Willie Clancy playing the jig ‘Coppers and Brass’, available on the website of Na Píobairí Uilleann, here: http://pipers.ie/source/media/?galleryId=376&mediaId=9916

Centre for Irish Studies, University of Galway - Events 2,782 followers

SEAN-NÓS SINGING WORKSHOPS begin Tuesday, 9 October, 7pm. We are delighted to announce that our Sean-Nós Singer in Residence this year, Tomás Ó Neachtain, will offer a series of free workshops beginning on Tuesday, 9 October at 7pm, at the Centre for Irish Studies. Details below.

The 46th Willie Clancy Summer School is in full swing this week in Miltown Malbay, County Clare. As part of the seminar series at the school, Dr Verena Commins will give a lecture, ‘Bronzing Tradition: monuments, commemoration and the Willie Clancy Summer School (1974-2013)’ at 2.30pm on Saturday 14th July that uses the two monuments raised to Willie Clancy in Miltown, in 1974 and 2013 respectively, to contextualise the development of the monumental landscape of Irish traditional music. http://www.scoilsamhraidhwillieclancy.com/lectures.html