A new archive is being created to preserve the time-honoured, local music tradition of Kilfenora and the surrounding area.
The project is the brainchild of traditional musician, Aoife Kelly, who previously completed a similar archive about her paternal grandfather, West Clare fiddle player John Kelly, which can be viewed at JohnKellyCapleStreet.ie.
The idea of the Kilfenora archive came to Aoife when she was cleaning out the house of her 95-year-old grandfather Jimmy O’ Donoghue at Lickeen, close to Kilfenora. Among all the boxes, she came across a photograph taken during a house dance in that house in the 1950s.
“I have been interested in folklore, local information and gathering archival materials for a long time. I first did something like this for my paternal grandfather, John Kelly, which was launched in 2019,” she said.
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Andrew Hamilton is a journalist, investigative reporter and podcaster who has been working in the media in Ireland for the past 20 years. His areas of special interest include the environment, mental health and politics.