January 2004

This book is a comprehensive account of the traditions of Oriel, a region that takes in parts of Armagh, Monaghan and Louth. The book contains a wealth of information about the people who made and maintained those traditions - poets and harpers, storytellers and singers, and not least the men and women (from various backgrounds) who wrote down and recorded this material. In addition to including over 50 songs, with translations, it publishes transcriptions of local dance music made by collectors in different periods. All this is set against a backdrop of markets, music festivals, calendar customs, keening and wakes, marriages and abductions, mermaids and the fairy world.