By Anna Rose Garvey
In this issue we look at a selection of films featuring Fleadhanna Ceoil between 1957 and 1966 around Ireland. With the release of over 255 Irish-language newsreels on the IFI Archive Player in March 2025 as part of Amharc Éireann: A View of Ireland, there are numerous new examples of fleadhanna to explore. Produced by Gael Linn between 1956 and 1964, Amharc Éireann was Ireland’s first long-running indigenous newsreel series. It was distributed to cinemas throughout the country to promote the Irish language.
In 1957 producer Colm Ó Laoghaire and the Amharc Éireann crew visited Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, to film the Fleadh Ceoil, an annual event organised by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. Almost 20,000 people attended that year, and they are seen in the film Irish Traditional Music Festival / Fleadh Ceoil enjoying a bagpipe competition, which was adjudicated in the town courthouse, and a harp music display in the convent.
As Irish traditional music grew in popularity, attendances increased, and the newsreel titled Fleadh Ceoil, Swinford / Fleadh Cheoil Bhéal Átha na Muice (1961) captured a crowd of over 30,000 people enjoying the festival in Mayo. The following year the Fleadh Ceoil took place in Gorey, Co. Wexford, and a story in the newsreel Strange Contrasts at Fleadh Ceoil Gorey / Contrárthachtaí Aisteacha ag Fleadh Ceoil Ghuaire (1962) juxtaposed images of new fans, folk musicians and Wexford Mummers alongside more traditional Irish musical activity. By 1963 the newsreel filmed at the Fleadh Ceoil, Mullingar / Fleadh Ceoil i Muileann gCearr (1963) described a crowd size of over 60,000 people. The final Fleadh Ceoil documented was Clones: Fleadh Ceoil / Fleadh Ceoil Chluain Eois in 1964, which presents streetscapes of the 75,000 attendees enjoying the festival.
The cinematic craft of documenting these lively events is best exemplified in Louis Marcus’s award-winning short film of the 1966 West Clare Fleadh—Fleá Ceoil (1967). It uses close observational techniques to create an intensely energetic montage and a remarkable cinematic portrait of the vibrant festival community. Within the film are performances of ‘The Humours of Whiskey’ and ‘Love is Teasing’, sung by Tom Lenihan and Dolly McMahon respectively, as well as a wealth of other musical material, including a piece by Willie Clancy.
IRISH TRADITIONAL MUSIC FESTIVAL / FLEADH CEOIL
1956–9 / 2 mins 27 secs
Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, hosts the three-day all-Ireland traditional music festival, attracting as many as 20,000 attendees.
STRANGE CONTRASTS AT FLEADH CEOIL GOREY / CONTRÁRTHACHTAÍ AISTEACHA AG FLEADH CEOIL GHUAIRE
1962 / 2 mins 11 secs
Thousands of people assemble for the all-Ireland traditional music festival in Gorey, Co. Wexford.
FLEÁ CEOIL
1967 / 22 mins
A finely observed record of the West Clare Fleadh of 1966, which was held that year in the towns of Kilrush and Quilty.
Anna Rose Garvey is Digital Platforms Coordinator at the Irish Film Institute.