‘Music and song have a bizarre way of hanging on even in the face of great adversity’ - Macdara Yeates on keeping Irish traditional song alive
Singer Macdara Yeates's new album, Traditional Songs from Dublin, is a sublime collection of songs both well-known and rare
A nostalgic look back at swimming on the Falls Road
Things have changed for swimmers on the Falls Road
The hidden meanings in Belfast street names
Knowing Irish can open up a hidden world right here in the place we live
Beyond the political: What Ireland can teach the world about music
Toner Quinn says he is a musician who writes about music
Experience a night of Persian, Kurdish & Irish Music: Sara Fotros & international musicians at Belfast’s Duncairn Arts Centre
Robert McMillen chats to Iranian daf drum player Sara Fotros about her experience learning the instrument, her dream of becoming a full time musician and the importance of events like the Belfast International Arts Festival
Blowing away the Autumnal blues at the Grand Opera House
A review of a concert featuring Paul Jones and Dave Kelly with guests the Ulster Orchestra and Freddie White
The North Star that is guiding us to a better future
A review of North Star, a musical tribute to anti-slavery camapigner Fredeick Douglass, which was staged at the Belfast Telegraph Building as part of the Belfast International Arts Festival
Meeting the man behind the bible of Irish trad music
Robert McMillen speaks to Fintan Vallely about the recently updated version of his epic volume, The Companion to Irish Traditional Music
Irish harpists have never had it easy
Belfast harpist Ursula Burns on 30 years of breaking the boundaries and developing her own style of playing
What’s it all about, Alfi? - Trad
With an unusual line-up of harp, five string banjo and uilleann pipes, Alfi aren’t your standard Trad group
John Spillane on transforming the Victorian Cork fairytale Fior-usga into a glorious ‘folk opera’
Cork singer/songwriter John Spillane chats to Robert McMillen about the inspiration behind his magnum opus Fíoruisce - The Legend of the Lough
Belfast-born film director Mark Cousins to release book
Dear Orson Welles will be launched at the Queen’s Film Theatre
Trad: Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann might finally be Belfast-bound in 2026 - but can the city cope with its multi-million pound-generating craic agus ceol?
Robert chats to Brendan McAleer of Ards Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (CCÉ), the main sponsors of the Belfast 2026 bid
It’s Belfast Tradfest time
Instead of dancing the Macarena in Ibiza, on Sunday Robert McMillen will be at Tradfest’s céilí on the Titanic slipways
Into the mystic and achieving our full potential
Armagh poet Peter Makem believes he has answered the great questions of existence, including the meaning of art, love and beauty...