Tag Archives: archive

The rich history of one of Clare’s most influential traditional music families is being pieced together for the first time in a new online archive of sound, images and memories. The Russell’s of Doolin archive was launched at last month’s Russell Festival and tracks the life, music and stories of Micho, Packie and Gussie Russell. The archive is the brainchild of local musician and co-organiser of the Russell Festival, Charles Monod, who has spent the last year conducting interviews and sourcing images, audio and video about the famous Doolin brothers. Charles came to traditional music comparatively late in life, but once he was bitten by the trad bug, he was hooked for life. Originally from Switzerland, he came to Doolin for a summer as a teenager, but like so many lovers of traditional music, he found it difficult to leave. “When I came here for the summer I started playing the tin whistle as something to do. My aim was …

VOICES of native Irish speakers from North Clare in the 1930s are being brought back to life by the Royal Irish Academy. Eighty-five years ago, a German professor, Dr Wilhelm Doegen, came to Ireland at the request of the new Irish Ministry of Education to record Irish-language speakers throughout the island. The objective was to have a permanent record of the spoken language from all of the districts in which it was still spoken. Clare men Stiofán Ó hEilíre, Máirtín Mag Fhloinn, Seán Carún, James Shannon and Liam Ó Dileáin took part in the project and were recorded at the then University College Galway between September 8 and 21, 1930. While the recordings have long been known to linguists, the Academy Library wanted to make them freely available to all via the internet and Minister for Education and Skills Ruairí Quinn recently officially launched The Doegen Records Web Project: Irish Dialect Sound Recordings 1928-1931. Recordings of stories, songs, poems and …