Thursday, June 3, 2010

JUNE 3rd, 1968: Fleadh Ceoil is success story in Irish music - The Irish Times - Thu, Jun 03, 2010

FROM THE ARCHIVES: The resurgence of Irish traditional music during the 1960s fed into, and drew from, the success of Comhalthas Ceolteóri Éireann’s annual Fleadh Ceoil, usually held on the Whit weekend and periodically known for excessive drinking. The 1968 event, however, was a model of its time, as Michael Heney reported from Clones, Co Monaghan. – JOE JOYCE

WITH A twang and a fiddle and a beat on the bodhran, Fleadh Ceoil na hÉireann burst upon Clones yesterday like an old friend renewing a four-year-old acquaintance. He brought with him his musicians, drawn from Cuig Cuigi na hÉireann, and the by-now traditional horde of initiated and uninitiated supporters, who numbered perhaps 80,000, and who will spend, so one is told, a quarter of a million pounds in Clones this festival weekend.

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