One of the most recognizable voices in Irish folk music has been quieted. Ronnie Drew, a founding member of The Dubliners, died in a Dublin hospital on August 16, just one month shy of his 74th birthday. The gravelly-voiced folk singer had suffered a long bout with throat cancer. Drew was a pioneering and much revered and loved figure in Irish folk music since helping to form The Dubliners, in 1962. “Ronnie Drew was an iconic figure in Irish music over the last five decades,” said Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen in a prepared statement. “Whether as part of The Dubliners or during his solo career, Ronnie will also be remembered for his promotion of Irish music both...

With the St. Patrick's Day season upon us, public television stations across the U.S. are airing Absolutely Irish this month. The 90-minute concert film and documentary features some of the world's leading traditional Irish musicians. Filmed live last April during a concert at the Irish Arts Center in New York City's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood by Academy and Emmy Award-winning director Paul Wagner, Absolutely Irish is replete with jigs, reels, airs, ballads, contemporary versions of familiar old tunes, and instrumental jams featuring some fine players -- young and old alike. [To read the entire article, click on the headline.]

For eight days and seven nights in late July, Rostrevor, a scenic village in the foothills of the Mourne Mountains overlooking Carlingford Lough on Northern Ireland’s County Down Coast, was home to the 21st Annual Fiddler’s Green International Festival... Upcoming editions of “Folk Club,” a weekly program on BBC Radio Ulster hosted by Colum Sands, will feature recorded performances from the festival. These include singer Cara Dillon and her band (August 11), former DeDanann fiddler Frankie Gavin and Hibernian Rhapsody (August 18), and Belfast-born singer-songwriter Brian Kennedy (August 25). Streaming on the Web at www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/radioulster/folk_club, each of the shows will be archived for seven days following the initial broadcast and can be accessed using the BBC Radio Player....

The sounds of Celtic harps, fiddles, Irish balladeers, pipe bands, step dancers and Celtic rockers abound during the summer festival season. And you won’t have to shell out much green to attend most of the festivals, featuring traditional and contemporary music from and inspired by the Emerald Isle, that are mentioned here. The Colorado Irish Festival, Cleveland’s Irish Cultural Festival, the Adams County Irish Festival in Gettysburg (PA), and Utica, NY’s Great American Irish Festival are slated in July. Milwaukee’s nationally acclaimed Irish Fest takes place in August, as do two festivals in upstate New York, while the fifth annual Kansas City Irish Festival is set for Labor Day Weekend. [For short descriptions of -- and...