Once again we celebrate the increased level of detail which has gone into this years traditional album covers. From over 160 albums we have narrowed it down to our Top 10 which we present below.

10. Caoimhin Vallely …

Dublin’s newest folk and trad venue Magistorium on South Anne Street, continue their series of Christmas concerts with the appearance of Tír na nÓg on Wednesday 28th December. This legendary Irish duo formed by Sonny Condell and Leo O’Kelly have been described as Alt Folk or Psych Folk!…

Welcome to the Tradconnect Readers Poll to select our Traditional Album of the Year 2016. This year the award is sponsored by The INEC Killarney and the winning artist will receive a cheque for €3,000, as well as the opportunity to appear at one or both of the…

Welcome to our bumper end of year Spotify Playlist covering the top 100 traditional tracks from 2016. It has once again been a year of plenty with over 200 albums released over the course of the year. We have had the highs of new releases by contemporary artists like The Gloaming, Ensemble Ériu and Notify, neatly balanced with the best pure…

Repost : New Road play Whelan's Dublin on Monday 8th May. We recently posted this article in support of their debut album.

Stone Walls & Street Lights is the much anticipated debut album from Sligo based New Road. Members include Leonard Barry (uilleann pipes, whistle), Rick Epping…

Indeedin You Needn't Bother, the debut solo album from concertina player Brenda Castles, is a fourteen track album of traditional Irish music on concertina, with accompaniment from guitarists Eoghan Scott, Tony Byrne and Paul Browne, and harpist Séana Davey.

Brenda…

This week Tradconnect has passed an important milestone by exceeding over 500,000 plays of artists tracks on Tradconnect. These tracks have been added to our Soundcloud file and have subsequently been embedded within articles on the site. Each week…

Our track of the week today is taken from the new album by which we launched earlier in the week. The Maguires have been playing together as a band for three years and are regular performers at festivals and concerts…

Michael Rooney has just been announced as the Gradam Ceoil TG4 Composer of the Year 2017. Gradam Ceoil TG4 is the premier annual traditional music awards scheme and Michael will join a star-studded line-up of recipients and musicians for the award ceremony in February.

The Macalla…

The TG4 Gradam Ceoil awards for 2017 have just been announced and the recipient’s include artists that we have featured over the last number of weeks on Tradconnect.

The Traditional Musician of the Year award goes to Mairéad Ní…

Following their recent cultural visit to the Orient as special guests of President Michael D. Higgins, sensational young Irish band Moxie are set to perform at Magistorium in Number TWENTY TWO on South Anne Street, Dublin 2. The ‘Prodijig, The Revolution.’ stars will take to the stage next Wednesday…

It's hard to believe that three kids, aged just 16, 14 and 11, can already have clocked up 25 years of musical development between them.  Throw into the mix the fact that these young trad musicians are also classically trained and your interest is piqued.  Finally, add a flair for composition and arrangement, two and a half years' work, and the…

Traditional music is continuing to thrive with over 160 traditional albums released this year, up from about 130 last year. These are albums known to us and this list will no doubt grow as we identify what is missing. So scan the list and add a comment here or on our Facebook page is you spot an omission.

In the…

This is the first track from the new album by Matt Molloy, John Carty and Arty McGlynn. It achieved close to 300 plays over the last week, making it our No.1 set this week. The first reel is the McDonagh brothers' version of the tune also known as The Prohibition. The second reel is a Sligo version of the Grand Spey which Matt…

This is the first track from the new album by Matt Molloy, John Carty and Arty McGlynn. It achieved close to 200 plays over the 1st week of January, making it our No.1 track once again on Tradconnect. The first reel is the McDonagh brothers' version of the tune also known as The Prohibition. The second reel is a Sligo version…

A real festive treat is in store for the Kingdom as preparations are well underway for the annual Con Houlihan Memorial Christmas Concert. The event takes please on Saturday 17^th December at the River Island Hotel in CastleIsland and a host of special guests are lined up for the evening.

Headlining this year’s billing is the last…

Aidan Connolly is a fiddle player and primary school teacher from Rathfarnham in Dublin, long associated with the Craobh Naithí Branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. His playing is influenced by a wide variety of fiddle players, including Paddy Cronin, Paddy Canny and Denis Murphy.…

A beautiful voice comes to us from the other side of eternity in this moving film about the life of singer Eithne Ní Uallacháin, which will be broadcast on 20^th December @ 21:30, TG4

All of us are caught up in this world of conflicting emotions and that was especially true of Eithne who expressed her innermost…

Scotland celebrated traditional music in style on Saturday night with a glittering ceremony held in the Caird Hall, Dundee. The prestigious MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards show was broadcast live on BBC ALBA and BBC Radio Scotland.

The big winner was Breabach, who won…

Four years since her first album on the Raelach label, Saileog Ní Cheannabháin's new recording has just been released. Roithleán (pronounced, Rillawn) is an Irish word for the spindle-whorl of a spinning wheel, but it also refers to a whirling or a recurring motion. Saileog writes in her sleeve note: “Music and songs can be like that, I feel, as they…