Archive: IMBOLC 2019

Lunchtime CD release concert

This exciting new album, released in summer 2018, celebrates the music of The Stephen Grier manuscripts, one of the most comprehensive collections of nineteenth-century Irish music. Containing approximately 1000 tunes in 12 manuscripts, the collection was in the main transcribed by Stephen Grier (1824-1894).

Born and reared in north Longford, Grier moved to Newpark, Bohey, Gortletteragh, in south Leitrim in 1852. The great variety of tune types and rhythms on this album, beautifully reimagined by Séamus McGuire and John Lee, accurately reflects the prevailing Irish music played in the north Longford/south Leitrim region during Grier’s lifetime. This is a new landmark in recorded traditional Irish music.