Lillis o laoire biography samples

Reimagining Irish food ways for the twenty-first century

Folk Life

Food and drink are fundamental to life, and apart from costume, they are among the most noticeabl... more Food and drink are fundamental to life, and apart from costume, they are among the most noticeable markers of cultural otherness within intercultural encounters. 1 There is a current global interest in foods that are artisanal, local, traditional, seasonal and sustainable, and that tell a cultural story, as witnessed by the popularity of the Nordic Food Movement, or the 2021 Netflix series High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America. 2 In 2019, the Royal Irish Academy published A History of Ireland in 100 Words, which had a special chapter on 'Food and Feasting' highlighting the importance of bread, milk, apples, and honey as iconic Irish foods, and including drinking horns, forks, cauldrons, and the champion's portion 'curadhmhír' as other important cu

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• Reviewed by:
• Jeffrey Tolbert
• Penn State Harrisburg

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In this comprehensive study of the most influential of modern Irish musicians, Sean Williams and Lillis Ó Laoire successfully combine a thorough examination of the major themes and influences in Joe Heaney’s life and performances with a painstaking contextualization of the man and his art in the broader framework of Irish history. As a critical biography, the ord is more concerned with exploring the motives and methods of its subject than presenting a simple chronological narrative of his life (6). The result is an engaging and exhaustive study of the historical developments and social realities that impacted Heaney’s attitudes, performance styles, and his eventual rise to prominence as the sean-nós (“old-style”) singer par excellence.

In the book’s nine chapters, divided into four major sections, the authors explore the performative and cultural systems through which Heaney mov

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A Reply to Lillis Ó Laoire

I have just read, in the January-February 2003 edition of the JMI, your review of the two CDs of sean-nós, which I produced for the Cinq Planetes Label (Sarah Ghriallais and Josie Sheáin Jeaic).

I welcome, of course, the appearance of such a long and detailed text, in terms of both its description of the songs and the commentary thereon. I feel obliged, however, to respond to some of the comments, which I suspect were made in haste.

1. You criticise my sleeve notes for a certain ‘exoticisation of Gaelic song, likening it to flamenco, North African, Asian or Indian singing’. Although I have read and re-read my notes I see no appearance therein of Asia or North Africa. And if I do compare sean-nós with flamenco and with certain types of Indian music, it is for two reasons, which are evident from reading the notes.

For a start, I want to emphasise certain ‘techniques of nasalisation, of movements of the glottis and microtonal variations’.