From County Meath we head towards County Louth on the east coast bordering Northern Ireland. It's known as the Wee County, as it is the smallest county of Ireland by area.
Here we meet Eithne Ní Uallacháin, a talented singer/songwriter, who tragically took her own life in 1999 after battling depression for many years. She was actually born in County Mayo, but County Louth was both her ancestral home as well as being the county where she settled, namely in the town of Carlingford. She also particularly explored the music of the Oriel region, a Medieval kingdom covering parts of the modern counties of Louth, Armagh, Monaghan, Fermanagh, Tyrone and Derry. In her later career she also explored other world music influences such as Balkan and Scandinaian, culminating in her last album Bilingua, which was published 15 years after her death by her surviving husband Gerry O'Connor and her son Dónal. Here a short film about the making of this album:
I can warmly recommend you to purchase this beautiful album.
Here is another song from the album, Óró:
Her husband, Gerry O'Connor, born in Dundalk, is an accomplished Irish fiddle player in his own right. Here he is playing with his son Dónal and Niall Hanna from County Tyrone playing above what looks like Carlingford Lough.
Some of his music can be found on his album Last Night's Joy.
More famously from Dundalk are the Corrs, a family band combining traditional Irish music with pop and rock, creating their own Irish flavoured pop. Here's one of their livelier numbers, Toss the Feathers, which can be found on their album Forgiven, Not Forgotten, if you like that sort of thing.
Now I couldn't get away with visiting County Louth without visiting my friend, budding author and musician Tara Tine. Apart from recently having written 2 books as part of a Fantasy series in the last 2 years, she also recorded her first EP, Battle Cry:
Also check out her YouTube channel, where she can be heard playing some of her more bluesey numbers. Look out for more to come from this beautifully creative woman.
On special recommendation by Tara I have also just discovered Sophie Coyle from Dundalk. This hauntingly dark song, Burning Gorse, comes from her album Blame Me for the Storm.
Folk Rocker Jonathan Kelly from Drogheda was mostly active in the 70's and has collaborated with some big names including Eric Clapton. Here is a song from his album Twice Around the Houses: Ballad of Cursed Anna
As usual you follow my trip on this map. Next stop Dublin.
Here we meet Eithne Ní Uallacháin, a talented singer/songwriter, who tragically took her own life in 1999 after battling depression for many years. She was actually born in County Mayo, but County Louth was both her ancestral home as well as being the county where she settled, namely in the town of Carlingford. She also particularly explored the music of the Oriel region, a Medieval kingdom covering parts of the modern counties of Louth, Armagh, Monaghan, Fermanagh, Tyrone and Derry. In her later career she also explored other world music influences such as Balkan and Scandinaian, culminating in her last album Bilingua, which was published 15 years after her death by her surviving husband Gerry O'Connor and her son Dónal. Here a short film about the making of this album:
Here is another song from the album, Óró:
Her husband, Gerry O'Connor, born in Dundalk, is an accomplished Irish fiddle player in his own right. Here he is playing with his son Dónal and Niall Hanna from County Tyrone playing above what looks like Carlingford Lough.
More famously from Dundalk are the Corrs, a family band combining traditional Irish music with pop and rock, creating their own Irish flavoured pop. Here's one of their livelier numbers, Toss the Feathers, which can be found on their album Forgiven, Not Forgotten, if you like that sort of thing.
Now I couldn't get away with visiting County Louth without visiting my friend, budding author and musician Tara Tine. Apart from recently having written 2 books as part of a Fantasy series in the last 2 years, she also recorded her first EP, Battle Cry:
On special recommendation by Tara I have also just discovered Sophie Coyle from Dundalk. This hauntingly dark song, Burning Gorse, comes from her album Blame Me for the Storm.
Folk Rocker Jonathan Kelly from Drogheda was mostly active in the 70's and has collaborated with some big names including Eric Clapton. Here is a song from his album Twice Around the Houses: Ballad of Cursed Anna
As usual you follow my trip on this map. Next stop Dublin.
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