Formation 24 April 1971 Headquarters Dublin, Ireland Official language English, Irish | Legal status Cultural organization Location Republic of Ireland | |
Purpose To encourage interest in traditional music in Ireland and its practice and to promote research on this and related subjects |
The Folk Music Society of Ireland was founded in Dublin in 1971 by a group of interested individuals with the aims of encouraging interest and promoting research in the traditional music, song and dance of Ireland. To this end it organised a regular programme of public lectures, recitals and seminars. By 2003 the Society felt that FMSI had largely fulfilled its initial intentions, and it decided to bring its main activities to an end. It does however continue to act in its publishing capacity. This archival site is being preserved for its historical interest. It is being kept updated by the addition of digitised material and PDF downloads on its new website.
Contents
Journal
Éigse Cheol Tíre / Irish Folk Music Studies. ISSN 0332-298X was the journal of the society. The editors of the most recent issue (vols 5–6, 1986–2001) were Hugh Shields, Nicholas Carolan and Thérèse Smith.
Newsletter
Ceol Tíre, the FMSI newsletter for members, was published from 1973 until December 1989. It was begun by its editor Hugh Shields in November 1973 and continued by him and Nicholas Carolan (who was Secretary of the Society 1977–1992) until December 1989. The complete series of 33 issues are now available as free pdf downloads from the FMSI and Irish Traditional Music Archive websites.
Publications
A number of books on Irish folk music, songs and musical history were published and more are in the pipeline. These include the following: