Alison has officially launched the Traditional Irish Music Hub in collaboration with some of Ireland’s finest musicians. Drawing on the very best talent in traditional Irish music, Alison crafted a series of courses covering all of the genre’s major instruments, including fiddle, concertina and bodhrán.
The courses have already been enjoyed by thousands of students eager to take part in this ancient and rich musical tradition.
In Ireland, the popularity of the courses has prompted acclaim across the mediascape, with both the musicians and Alison receiving praise for encouraging and fostering a love of the native musical tradition.
Michael McCague, the talented guitarist behind Alison’s traditional Irish guitar courses, is quoted in The Anglo-Celt newspaper on his experience of producing the courses and his love of Irish music. In the paper, which covers the northern Irish midlands, the Monaghan man spoke about how Irish music is a very welcoming community that offers friendship as well as a new skill to learners who get involved with the courses.
Meanwhile in the south-west of the country, The Clare Herald covered the involvement of three Claremen in the project. Brian O’Loughlin and his brother Conor are two of the expert musicians who created courses for the project. While Brian authored both the flute and the tin whistle courses, his brother Conor produced the popular concertina courses. Another Clareman, Dermot Sheedy, of the band Hermitage Green, produced the bodhrán courses for Alison.
In the Connacht Tribune, there were plaudits for the musicians for sharing their expertise and encouraging the growth of Irish traditional music, while Alison was lauded as a platform that allows subject matter experts to share their knowledge for free.
Alison founder and CEO, Mike Feerick, recently spoke with Keith Finnegan on the Galway Talks show on Galway Bay FM about the project. Alison is a Galway-based social enterprise and the Traditional Irish Music Hub, which drew on the expertise of many musicians based in the same part of the country, was close to the founder’s heart. (The interview can be listened to in full at 52 minutes into the show.)
The national broadcaster also got in on the praise, with a segment on the project on RTÉ’s flagship Today show. (The segment can be watched in full from 60 minutes into the show.)
