Browse Items (51 total)

The James Fitzgerald Memorial Brass & Reed Band of Mitchelstown, Co. Cork in 1980 on their way to play at a competition in Clonakilty.

The Hijackers dance band playing at The Crown in Cricklewood, London, c.1970.
Left to right: Sean Chamberlain, Tom Godron, Bríd (Sean's wife), and Jack Crowley (from Ardgroom, Cork).

Tommy and the Whelps, playing at the Black Lion pub, Kilburn High Road, London, c.1962.
Left to right: Tom Gordon (from Dromore West, Sligo), Clark Gail (from Glasgow), Pat Brady (from Ballyfermot, Dublin), and Sean Chamberlain.

The Woodpeckers playing at the Cricklewood Hotel in London, c.1960. They started as part of the Cricklewood bus garage social club and eventually ended up playing for social events at other groups too.
Left to right: Jimmy Hanly (from Mitchelstown),…

The Popular Five in Mitchelstown, Co. Cork in the 1950s
Left to right: Pa Duffy, TJ Hartigan, Sean Chamberlain, Charlie Sweeney, and Jimmy Walsh

LISTEN to the interview Sean Chamberlain describes his youth in Mitchelstown, Co. Cork, his migration to London, and the many dance bands he played in over the years. He returned in 1973 to help his brother open a bakery. He lives in the house his…

LISTEN to the interview Unlike many post-war Irish migrants, Mick Treacy from Mitchelstown, Co. Cork was more active on the English folk and jazz scenes than in the Irish music scene, though he did sing Irish songs with a group called the Munstermen.…

LISTEN to the interview Kevin Burke was born in London to parents from Sligo. He began learning to play fiddle from around the age of seven and absorbed the music he heard played around him by migrant musicians. As a teenager he played regularly in…

LISTEN to the interviewJimmy O'Brien talks at greater length about some of the traditional customs he remembers from his youth: the musical instruments, fattening a pig for Christmas and making puddings, the meitheal, thrashings, American wakes, and…

The Henry family, at their mother's funeral in 1972. It was the only time all eleven siblings were together in one place. Left to right they stand in order from youngest to eldest. Kevin is fourth from the left.