text: Thwaite: Jürgen Simpson & Simon Doyle
  Music by Jürgen Simpson / Libretto by Simon Doyle / Opera Theatre Company / Cond. Philip Walsh / Dir. Dan Zemmett / Project Theatre, 24 September 2003
  CD Reviews: At It Again – John Carty
  At it again, the whimsically titled new CD from multi-instrumentalist John Carty sees him this time eschewing banjo, flute and tenor guitar to instead confine his talents exclusively to the fiddle. On this recording he draws much of his repertoire from the...
  CD Reviews: An Tobar Glé - Neil Mulligan
  Neil Mulligan – An Tobar Glé– Shore Records SCD 1049One of the driving influences in the development of traditional music is the process of transmission. Maybe transmission is not always how it looks and feels at first hand – within...
  The Politics of Debate
  How discussion of culture and society is stymied
  Time for the State to Honour its Commitment
  Music Network – Ireland’s national music development organisation – has recently proposed an innovative system of national music education services based on national research. Here, Martin Drury, chairman of the report’s advisory group, introduces an initiative that could transform the musical, cultural and community life of towns and townlands throughout the country.In introducing Music Network’s report on the feasibility of a national system of local music education services, and underlining some of its key features, I want to begin by locating it within a wider frame of reference to do with notions of citizenship and of social equality.
  CD Reviews: Kíla - Luna Park
  KílaLuna Parkkíla recordsPushing boundaries, wrestling with the form, taking ‘liberties’ with the sacrosanct immutable tradition (mar dheá), fusing/fusion, hybridisation, attitude. These are some of the things that come to...
  CD Reviews: Séamus Quinn and Gary Hastings
  Séamus Quinn and Gary Hastings Slán le Loch Éirne – Stories to Tell Cló Iar-Chonnachta CICD 152This is very fine recording from two excellent musicians. Séamus Quinn and Gary Hastings played a lot of music together while...
  Music and Nationalism: The Debate Continues
  In some recent writing on the history of music in Ireland, several Irish scholars have claimed that nationalist ideologies had a stultifying influence on the development of classical music here. These views have proved extremely controversial, and writers such as Barra ó Séaghdha and Patrick Zuk have challenged them in a number of articles and reviews. In this article, Patrick Zuk returns to the subject and outlines his principal reservations.