An illustrated presentation by Máire O'Keeffe with special guest Nicholas Carolan
MÁIRE O’KEEFFE
Máire O’Keeffe is a fiddle player, originally from Tralee, Co. Kerry but now living in Kinvara, Co. Galway. She learned to play the fiddle from Castleisland musician, Nicky McAuliffe and her many influences include the fiddle traditions of her native Kerry as well as the fiddling of Donegal and Clare musicians.
She has long had an avid interest in the fiddle music of Scotland, Shetland and particularly the fiddle and piano based traditions of Cape Breton Island in Canada where she was artist in residence at the internationally renowned Celtic Colours Festival in 2009. Máire has given fiddle workshops all over the world including a nine month stint during the early 1990s as a visiting Irish Traditional Music teacher in Australia.
For many years she was a fiddle tutor at the Willie Clancy Summer School and for the past number of years she has presented a much sought after “performance class” at the school where students are afforded an opportunity to listen to and interact with some of the legendary fiddle players in Irish traditional music.
In Oct 2010, Máire was awarded a Ph.D. at the University of Limerick for a study entitled,“Journey into Tradition: A Social History of the Irish Button Accordion”.
NICHOLAS CAROLAN
Founding Director of ITMA (The Irish Traditional Music Archive) which was established in 1987. Under his direction, ITMA has become Ireland’s principal archive and resource organisation for Irish traditional music, song and dance. ITMA is widely recognised as a leading and innovative expert organisation that plays an important role in the development of Ireland’s cultural and digital infrastructure. Above all, ITMA is a valued and respected resource for the community of traditional performers, audiences, researchers, broadcasters, academics and the general public. Under Nicholas Carolan’s direction, and through the success of the television series Come West along the Road (RTÉ) and Siar an Bóthar (TG4) which he has researched and presented since 1994, ITMA has been established as the largest repository in existence of the materials of Irish traditional music, song and dance. ITMA’s collections are unequalled anywhere in the world, and its catalogue and a large collection of digitised materials are now freely accessible online at www.itma.ie. Nicholas Carolan is due to retire in mid-2015, and the Board looks forward to continuing its relationship with him in the years ahead.
For further information of ITMA visit: www.itma.ie
