Music & Light Ceol & Solas Irish traditional music photography by Tony Kearns 130 portraits and commentary from 25 years of the Willie Clancy Summer School

We are delighted to announce our release of this fine book of photographs by Tony Kearns.

This book is a hardback bound edition of 130 black & white photographs selected from the many images that Tony Kearns has taken of classes, sessions, recitals, ceilis and formal portraits at the renowned Willie Clancy Summer School from 1992 to 2007.

The Willie Clancy Summer School is one of the most important events in the traditional Irish music calendar anywhere in the world and attracts the best musicians, singers and dancers as well as thousands of enthusiasts to the small town of Miltown Malbay, County Clare, Ireland, for one heady week each July.

The book also features a foreword by Nicholas Carolan, the director of the Irish Traditional Music Archive in Dublin and writer & presenter of the RTE series 'Come West Along The Road', as well as an introduction by the directors of the Summer School, Muiris Ó Rócháin and Harry Hughes. This is a unique publication, possibly the first photographic study of an exclusively Irish traditional music subject and it has been generously supported by the Arts Council of Ireland under its Deis Traditional Arts Initiative.This book is a hardback bound edition of 130 black & white photographs selected from the many images that Tony Kearns has taken of classes, sessions, recitals, ceilis and formal portraits at the renowned Willie Clancy Summer School from 1992 to 2007.

This book is printed on the finest of paper and hence weighs 1032 grammes, so check out postage before ordering. A perfect for any lover of Irish traditional music.

Also checkout this double CD which features music and song from The Willie Clancy Summer School; a perfect companion to this book. RTE 280CD

Junior Crehan & Bobby Casey - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Dancing in Conway's

Press Reviews

WWW.FOLKWORLD.EU online folk magazine

The visual is as much a part of Irish traditional music as it is of life. It is an essential dimension of the full communication that happens between its performers and audiences. Our experience of the music is incomplete, we find, unless we can see it being made as well as hearing it, and see also the effects it has on the people listening to it. Irish photographer Tony Kearns has been specialising in taking pictures of Irish traditional musicians, singers and dancers. His playground became the Willie Clancy Summer School in Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare, held in honour of the great uilleann piper Willie Clancy since 1973. With writer Bary Taylor he already produced an illustrated history of the school in 2003. Music & Light - Ceol & Solas contains 130 black & white photographs of musicians, singers and dancers taken from 1992 to 2007, both formal portraits as well as artists in full flight. He documents all aspects: classes, sessions, recitals, céilís. Most are unfamilar faces (and this is what is all about actually), but there are also musicians well-known to Irish music lovers worldwide, such as pipers Martin Nolan, Kevin Rowsome, Ronan Browne, Paddy Keenan, Mick O'Brien, flautists Cathal McConnell, John Blake, fiddlers Oisin Mac Diarmada, Martin Hayes, Mick Conneely, Ben Lennon, James Kelly, Paul O'Shaughnessy, box players Joe Burke, Bobby Gardiner, Brendan Begley, harmonica player Rick Epping, singers Helen Roche, Niamh Parsons ... These pictures don't rob the musician's soul, in contrary, they add something essential.