Episode 61: Rounding up the the Tunes

When flute player and police captain Francis O’Neill published his first and most extensive collection of Irish tunes in 1903, he included a LOT of tunes. Nicholas Carolan called it “the largest snapshot of this music ever taken in its 9,000 year history.” 120 years later, I revisit O’Neill’s two biggest books, to explore what’s in there, and what isn’t. With the help of authors Michael O’Malley and Ronan O’Driscoll, librarian Aedin Clements, and fiddle player/scholar Laura Flanagan. I attempt to deepen (and maybe even adjust) my perspective on this heavy piece of the Irish music foundation. __________________ For playlists, transcripts, links to videos, companion essays, and to contribute to this project, please head to IrishMusicStories.org. ___________________ Thank you to everybody for listening. And a special thank you to this month’s underwriters: Susan Walsh, Rick Rubin, Ken Doyle, Chris Armstrong, Gerry Corr, Jonathan Duvick, Sean Carroll, Isobel McMahon, Ian Bittle, Finian McCluskey, John Ploch, Brian Benscoter, Chris Murphy, Irish & Celtic Music Podcast, David Vaughan, Suezen Brown, Paul DeCamp, Bob Suchor, Tom Frederick, Leslie Stack, Andrew Westphal, Roland Hebborn, Chris Armstrong, Ralf Wolfgarten, and James Falzone.

Om Podcasten

The show about traditional music, and the bigger stories behind it. Host Shannon Heaton talks to musicians, dancers, and scholars about where Irish music has been, where it's going, and what it means to so many people around the globe. Whether you already play fiddle or know dance steps, or you don't know anything about traditional music, the emphasis of this show is creativity, community, and heritage.