PRONI Celebrates Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann

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Colour photograph of a Fleadh session in the 1960s with a large crowd on a public street. A young boy sits in the middle of the crowd playing the uillean pipes with other men around him playing the flute and the fiddle.

At the beginning of August, the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland celebrated the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann alongside the rest of Belfast City. The Fleadh Cheoil festival celebrates traditional Irish music, dance and culture through competitions, sessions, concerts and events. Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann have been running the Fleadh Cheoil festival since the early 1950s and this is the first time that it has been held in Belfast. To mark this significant occasion for Belfast, PRONI organised themed events and displays throughout the festival week.

 

In the PRONI atrium, there was a display of records relating to music including newspaper clippings about the ‘Fiddler King of Ireland’, John Doherty and a very early collection of the tune ‘Danny Boy’ or the ‘Londonderry Air’. A PRONI staff member also generously brought in a silver medal won by their relative for singing at the Leinster Fleadh Cheoil in Wexford in 1964 to be part of the display.

Two images side-by-side. The image on the left shows a dark silver medal with a harp design on display. The image on the right shows documents and artefacts on display in the case including two tin whistles, photographs of men playing instruments, typescript diary entries and a music manuscript book.
Fleadh Cheoil display cases at PRONI

Early in the week, PRONI hosted the North of Ireland Family History Society who set up a pop-up stall in the atrium. At the stall, the NIFHS gave advice to members of the public who were researching their family history, attracting researchers to the archive who were visiting Belfast for the Fleadh.

 

On Wednesday 5th August, Brónagh McAtasney from Northern Ireland Screen’s Digital Film Archive came to PRONI for a delightful screening of archival footage relating to traditional music. Brónagh highlighted videos of Belfast musical legends such as Seán Maguire and the McPeake family and ended her presentation with an emotional clip of Willie Campbell, a street performer who played the saw in front of Belfast City Hall in the 1960s. 

Check out the Digital Film Archive’s curated collection of footage for the Fleadh Cheoil.

A blonde woman with glasses stands at the podium in the PRONI lecture theatre. Behind her on the screen is a title card that reads 'With a fiddle and a flute'
Brónagh McAtasney presenting music related footage from the Digital Film Archive

On Thursday 6th August, archivist and award-winning musician, Niamh Ní Charra visited PRONI for a special talk and performance. Niamh’s presentation, ‘Mná an Cheoil – 100 Years of Women in Traditional Irish Music’ traced the history of instrumentalists from all over the country. Niamh ended her presentation with a fantastic performance on the concertina.

A woman with long brown hair sitting on a chair in the PRONI lecture theatre playing the concertina
Niamh Ní Charra playing the concertina following her presentation

PRONI Public Services team member, Rebecca O’Neill said:

Hosting events to coincide with the Fleadh in Belfast was a fantastic experience for PRONI. It gave us the opportunity to showcase our music-related collections, engage with new audiences and highlight the important role archives play in preserving our shared cultural heritage.


PRONI looks forward to celebrating the Fleadh in Belfast again in 2027. To keep up to date with PRONI events planned throughout the year, feel free to sign up to the PRONI Express newsletter.