Irish traditional music has never been more alive than it is right now. A generation of musicians in their twenties and thirties is producing work that is rooted in the tradition and simultaneously pushing it into new territory \u2014 blending trad with drone, ambient, chamber music and other influences, or simply playing the old tunes with a freshness and conviction that makes them sound brand new.<\/p>\n
This guide introduces the contemporary artists you need to know. These are the musicians defining what trad sounds like in the 2020s \u2014 and you\u2019ll hear many of them on Radio Siamsa.<\/p>\n
Flynn is a Dublin singer and flute player whose debut album I Would Not Live Always (2021) won two RT\u00c9 Folk Awards and announced the arrival of a major voice. His singing is raw, powerful and deeply connected to Dublin\u2019s ballad tradition \u2014 a tradition that includes Luke Kelly and Christy Moore but that Flynn makes entirely his own. He sits comfortably in a traditional session and on a festival stage, and he represents a generation that sees no contradiction between deep tradition and contemporary ambition.<\/p>\n
Start with: <\/strong><\/em>I Would Not Live Always (2021). Track to try: Mole in the Ground.<\/em><\/p>\n Begley, from a famous West Kerry musical family, plays a family of concertinas from soprano to bass. His self-titled solo album (2018), recorded in a church in West Kerry, explores the concertina\u2019s full range in ways nobody had attempted before. The bass concertina, in particular, produces a sound of extraordinary depth and physical power. His playing is emotionally direct, technically brilliant, and entirely original.<\/p>\n Start with: <\/strong><\/em>Cormac Begley (2018).<\/em><\/p>\n \u00d3 Raghallaigh plays fiddle and hardanger d\u2019amore (a Norwegian stringed instrument with sympathetic strings). His work sits at the boundary between trad and contemporary art music \u2014 atmospheric, exploratory and emotionally charged. His collaborations with piper Mick O\u2019Brien and concertina player Cormac Begley have produced some of the most adventurous Irish music of recent years. His solo work is equally compelling.<\/p>\n Start with: <\/strong><\/em>Laghduff (2011, with Mick O\u2019Brien), or his solo album Where the One-Eyed Man Is King (2013).<\/em><\/p>\n A Dublin-based sean-n\u00f3s singer, flute and concertina player from a Connemara family. \u00d3 Ceannabh\u00e1in is deeply embedded in the Dublin trad scene and brings a scholar\u2019s knowledge and a performer\u2019s instinct to everything he does. He\u2019s a member of the group Skipper\u2019s Alley and a frequent session musician, and his singing carries the Connemara tradition into new contexts.<\/p>\n The vocalist and multi-instrumentalist (bayan, concertina, harmonium) of Lankum. Peat\u2019s singing \u2014 deep, raw, haunting \u2014 has become one of the most recognisable voices in Irish music. She brings a physical intensity to traditional songs that strips away sentimentality and reveals something darker and more powerful underneath.<\/p>\n A harpist from County Mayo who blends traditional Irish harping with Appalachian folk influences and her own compositions. She\u2019s been nominated for Best Emerging Artist at the RT\u00c9 Folk Awards, and her music explores the harp\u2019s possibilities in ways that honour the instrument\u2019s ancient Irish roots while sounding thoroughly contemporary.<\/p>\n Lankum are the group that has done most to bring Irish traditional song to new audiences in the 2020s. Their albums The Livelong Day (2019) and False Lankum (2023) take traditional songs and subject them to a sonic treatment that draws on drone, ambient, post-rock and other dark, immersive influences. The results are polarising \u2014 some traditionalists find them too far from the source, while others see them as the most exciting thing to happen to Irish music in a generation. False Lankum was nominated for the Mercury Prize.<\/p>\n Ian Lynch, the band\u2019s uilleann piper and concertina player, also hosts the Fire Draw Near podcast \u2014 one of the finest resources for understanding the history and context of traditional Irish song.<\/p>\n Start with: <\/strong><\/em>False Lankum (2023). Track to try: Go Dig My Grave.<\/em><\/p>\n Brothers Br\u00edan and Diarmuid Mac Gloinn from Carlow, singing traditional and original songs in close harmony with guitar, fiddle and bouzouki accompaniment. Their versions of traditional songs are spare, intimate and deeply felt. They won the RT\u00c9 Folk Awards Album of the Year for The Hare\u2019s Lament (2019). Their sound is gentle where Lankum\u2019s is dark, but both share a deep commitment to the tradition.<\/p>\n Start with: <\/strong><\/em>The Hare\u2019s Lament (2019).<\/em><\/p>\n Martin Hayes\u2019s ensemble project, bringing trad into conversation with contemporary classical, jazz and art music. With Iarla \u00d3 Lion\u00e1ird on sean-n\u00f3s vocals, Caoimh\u00edn \u00d3 Raghallaigh on hardanger d\u2019amore, Dennis Cahill on guitar and Thomas Bartlett on piano, The Gloaming created a sound that was entirely new while remaining unmistakably rooted in the tradition. Their live performances \u2014 particularly at the NCH in Dublin \u2014 were events.<\/p>\n Start with: <\/strong><\/em>The Gloaming (2014) or The Gloaming 2 (2016).<\/em><\/p>\n A long-running group from Waterford that combines superb instrumentals with powerful vocals. Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh\u2019s singing and flute playing anchors the group. They\u2019ve won multiple awards and tour extensively.<\/p>\n A five-piece group blending traditional melodies with contemporary arrangements. Their energy and technical skill have made them popular on the festival circuit.<\/p>\n A groundbreaking group featuring flute players Brian Finnegan and Sarah Allen, bodhr\u00e1n player John Joe Kelly, and guitarist Ed Boyd. Their instrumental arrangements pushed the boundaries of what trad ensembles could do, and their influence on subsequent bands has been enormous.<\/p>\n These musicians draw deeply on the Irish tradition but don\u2019t fit neatly into the \u201ctrad\u201d category. They\u2019re worth knowing about because they\u2019re introducing traditional music to audiences who might not otherwise encounter it.<\/p>\n Lisa O\u2019Neill: <\/strong>A singer-songwriter from Cavan whose work is steeped in traditional song and ballad forms but delivered with a raw, contemporary voice. Her album Heard a Long Gone Song (2018) features traditional songs alongside originals that feel like they\u2019ve always existed.<\/p>\n K\u00edla: <\/strong>A Dublin group that has been blending Irish trad with world music, rock and electronic influences since the late 1980s. R\u00f3n\u00e1n \u00d3 Snodaigh\u2019s bodhr\u00e1n playing and the group\u2019s global musical vocabulary have made them one of Ireland\u2019s most distinctive acts.<\/p>\n Daoiri Farrell: <\/strong>A Dublin singer and bouzouki player whose powerful voice and deep connection to the ballad tradition have made him one of the most respected performers on the folk circuit. His live performances are intense and emotionally gripping.<\/p>\n Every tradition needs renewal. If Irish music only looked backward \u2014 endlessly replaying the same tunes in the same style \u2014 it would become a museum piece. What the contemporary scene proves is that the tradition is robust enough to absorb new influences, new approaches and new voices without losing its identity.<\/p>\n John Francis Flynn sings Dublin ballads that are two hundred years old and makes them sound urgent. Lankum take a temperance song from the 18th century and make it sound like the end of the world. Cormac Begley plays the concertina in a church and makes it sound like an organ. They\u2019re all doing something different, but they\u2019re all drawing from the same well. The water is still fresh.<\/p>\n Tune into Radio Siamsa and hear the full continuum \u2014 from Michael Coleman\u2019s 1920s recordings to albums released this year. The past and the present play side by side. That\u2019s the tradition working as it should.<\/p>\n Read our guide to the great Irish traditional musicians<\/a><\/p>\n Read our list of essential Irish trad albums<\/a>.<\/p>\n Very much so. The contemporary scene is thriving. Artists like Lankum, John Francis Flynn, Cormac Begley and Ye Vagabonds are producing innovative work rooted in the tradition. More people play trad now than at any time in history.<\/p>\n That depends on your taste, but John Francis Flynn (vocals, flute), Cormac Begley (concertina), Caoimh\u00edn \u00d3 Raghallaigh (fiddle), Lankum (band) and Ye Vagabonds (vocals, harmony) are among the most acclaimed contemporary artists.<\/p>\n Lankum are a Dublin-based group who take traditional Irish songs and subject them to a sonic treatment drawing on drone, ambient and post-rock. Their album False Lankum (2023) was nominated for the Mercury Prize and has introduced Irish traditional song to a wide new audience.<\/p>\n Radio Siamsa plays contemporary releases alongside historic recordings. Festivals like the Fleadh Cheoil, Willie Clancy Week and various concert venues in Dublin, Galway and elsewhere feature contemporary artists. Spotify and Bandcamp are good for exploring individual albums.<\/p>\nCormac Begley<\/h3>\n
Caoimh\u00edn \u00d3 Raghallaigh<\/h3>\n
Eoghan \u00d3 Ceannabh\u00e1in<\/h3>\n
Radie Peat<\/h3>\n
Alannah Thornburgh<\/h3>\n
Bands and Groups<\/h2>\n
Lankum<\/h3>\n
Ye Vagabonds<\/h3>\n
The Gloaming<\/h3>\n
Danu<\/h3>\n
Goitse<\/h3>\n
Flook<\/h3>\n
Artists at the Boundary<\/h2>\n
Why the Contemporary Scene Matters<\/h2>\n
Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n
Is Irish traditional music still being made?<\/h3>\n
Who are the best new Irish trad musicians?<\/h3>\n
What is Lankum?<\/h3>\n
Where can I hear contemporary Irish trad?<\/h3>\n
Further Reading<\/h2>\n
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