Music to Our Ears: The Séamus Connolly Collection of Irish Music
Irish music followers worldwide will soon be able to stream and download hundreds of newly-released music tracks in The Séamus Connolly Collection of Irish Music, a digital collection that will be published by the Boston College Libraries on October 11. This exciting compilation features audio recordings of some of the best-known performers of Irish traditional instrumental music and song. With audio available via SoundCloud, the collection also offers music transcriptions and stories, and is fully compatible with mobile devices.
Originally from Killaloe in County Clare, Ireland, master fiddle player Séamus Connolly directed Irish music, song, and dance programming at Boston College for twenty-five years, and served as the Sullivan Artist-in-Residence from 2004 until his retirement in 2015. A ten-time All-Ireland fiddle champion, Connolly is a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts’ National Heritage Fellowship and a Boston College Faculty Arts award.
The digital collection offers a window into traditional music through Connolly’s long experience as a performer and teacher. Thanks to the generosity of over one hundred performers, the collection’s ten playlists, containing a total of over 330 tunes and songs, will soon be made freely accessible worldwide via The Séamus Connolly Collection of Irish Music under a Creative Commons license.
The product of a three-year collaboration between the Boston College Libraries and Connolly, the digital collection reflects the work of many departments across the libraries, with Connolly’s own work on the project beginning nearly fifteen years ago. The collection complements the Séamus Connolly Papers, one of several archival research collections on Irish music at the John J. Burns Library. Please feel free to contact Burns Library staff for more information about the Séamus Connolly Papers, the digital collection, or Irish music resources in general. We invite you to preview the Séamus Connolly Collection of Irish Music at connollymusiccollection.bc.edu and to visit the full site on October 11th when the full collection is launched.
