I love listening to French and Italian music, it revives my memories of my past trips. My friends and I are off to Ireland in July and I think Irish music would be a great way to get a feeling for Ireland. However, I have no idea which singers and albums to look for. Who would you suggest?

Diane

What kind of music do you have in mind - traditional or contemporary?

Even if you're talking only traditional music, it runs the gamut from country sounding (Scottish and Irish music are the basis of bluegrass)to new age. It's a very diverse music. As nevermind said, tell us what kind of music you like. Then we can make some suggestions!

U2
Sinead O'Connor

Enya

Celtic Women

The Irish Tenors

The Chieftains

I took a group of students around Ireland a couple of years back and as we parted company at the end of the trip they presented me with Planxty Live 2004 which had just been released a month earlier. They had no idea that I appreciated their music and already had a couple of their earlier albums. So, if it's traditional you want, and there are many, many artists to choose from, Planxty's live album from 2004 is a good starter.

If you are looking for some authentic Irish folk music, I would recommend Christy Moore, he is an Irish folk singer with a lovely voice.

Hope you enjoy

My favorite is Karan Casey, who used to be in the band Solas (also excellent). Incredible soprano voice. She sings both traditional and contemporary.

The Wolf Tones are great. Their CD "The Rifles of the IRA" is fine. (Note: they celebrate the IRA of 1916 not the murderers of 1998 Omagh.)

Thanks for all the great suggestions. I am interested in traditional and contemporary. We are in our late 20's and 30's and most of us have played an instrument in college, so we appreciate all genre's of music. I expect the highlight of our trip will be our time spent in pubs.

Diane

Irish music is so varied. Perhaps that is why it is so compelling. For contemporary music, I really enjoy many of the female Irish singers, especially Mary Black and Dolores Keane. The CD's "A Woman's Heart" 1 & 2 are both wonderful and feature a number of truly amazing Irish artists.

You can also listen to Martin Hayes, Tommy Keane, Davy Spillane, P.J. Hayes. They play traditional instruments. A couple of CD's that come to mind are "The Piper's Apron" (Tommy Keane) and "Clare Tradition", which is a compilation of various styles, artists, and instruments.

In reality, the list of great Irish music is so long that I don't really even know where to begin!!!

You can try some good compilations from Donal Lunny/Coolfin, one that our family likes and I think he produced is "Common Ground".

My husband loves "Women of the World: Celtic."

For fiddle and bodhran, try Folan and Davey.

Cherie mentioned Karan Casey of Solas - they are a band that we have been listening to for years. Gaelic Storm is a fun band to listen to. Try some De Danann, too!

Tommy Makem

Gaelic Storm

Stone Ring

I suggest don't get too immersed in music ahead of time, as you will have an expectation that may not be met, instead look for good music spots when you are there and buy the artists' CDs to bring home - this will give you lasting souviners to add to your memories. For example if you go to Dingle certainly do not miss Eoin Duignan at An Droichead Beag (the Small Bridge) on Thursdays.

For more contemporary music, try David Kitt, The Frames, Mundy, Damien Rice, Nina Hynes, BellX1, Paddy Casey, Damien Dempsey, The Thrills, Snow Patrol.

To get a great 'taste' of different types of Irish music, go to www.live365.com. They have at least 2 dozen different free live-stream irish music stations available. Traditional ones like Celtic Melt or more modern ones like Celtic Pub Radio. This allows you to hear the music, and it tells you what the artist is, what album the song is on, etc... so you can go buy the music. It pays royalties to the artists, so it's not anything illegal

I have bought about a dozen CDs since listening to them, including some I'd never have picked up otherwise, like AfroCelt Sound System (Irish and Senegalese music -- fiddle house music!)

The link below will take you to WFUV's website, which offers live streaming of their programming. On Saturday mornings they offer two back to back programs, A Thousand Welcomes from 9-12, and Thistle and Shamrock, from 12 to 2 (EST). The first features mostly traditional Celtic music and includes live performances from time to time. The second often includes modern takes on traditional music.

If you happen to live in the New York area you can tune in to 90.7.

Oops, forgot the link: http://www.wfuv.org/stream.html

If you're into punk type music you may want to check out The Dropkick Murhphys. Not really my thing, but they have an interesting version of The Fields of Athenry.

Enjoy your time in Ireland!

I second the advice given by TMWeddle. Let what you hear in Ireland guide you.

GreenDragon, thanks for the link to radio stations.

Thistle & Shamrock is a wonderful Public Radio program. I listen to it every Saturday. http://www.capradio.org/stream/. It comes on at 5pm Pacific Time. (Just in case the Eastern time given by Pausanius doesn't work for you).

Happy listening! And happy travels!!