Irish Eclectic

By Brian McGowan Ireland, long the most Catholic of countries, retains more than a trace of practices from times past. These are often revealed throughout the year on the occasion of Christian celebrations lightly pasted on top of earlier, pagan

By Brian McGowan Celebrating the slow but steady progress on the road to post-COVID normalcy, my wife and I happily sat through Kenneth Branagh’s semiautobiographical film “Belfast” on a recent Friday night at the Jacob Burns Film Center.  Astounding is

By Brian McGowan A brief mention was made in the last issue of the passing of Paddy Moloney, co-founder and lead composer and arranger for the Irish musical group The Chieftains, along with a promise to do Paddy more justice

Before another word is read, a solid goodbye to a giant of Irish traditional music, Paddy Moloney, a founding member of The Chieftain, who left us on Oct. 11, a young 83. We’ll give him his full due in a

By Brian McGowan Like a thief in the night, COVID-19 swept down in the waning days of winter 2020 and hasn’t left us yet. Hoping it will soon abate, we turn our sights back to upended plans and delayed dreams.

By Brian McGowan It was with sadness and embarrassment I learned recently of the death of Ciaran Carson, poet, musician and author of what is surely one of the best books written on Irish traditional music I have ever had

By Brian McGowan I recently read “Good Friday: The Death of Irish Republicanism” by Anthony McIntyre, who as a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) spent 17 years imprisoned in the notorious Long Kesh Prison. McIntyre, incarcerated in his

By Brian McGowan We continue this month exploring Irish patriots, a group in which few stand as large as the legendary Eamon DeValera.  At the age of 34, “Dev,” as he was known to friend and foe alike, faced a

By Brian McGowan Our focus this issue is on two brothers, Robert and Thomas Addis Emmet. Robert, the youngest son of Dr. Robert Emmet and Elizabeth Mason, was born in Dublin in 1778. His family were members of the “Anglo-Irish

My grandfather, Frank McGowan, left Ireland in 1890, to seek his fortune in America. He was a post-Famine Irishman, raised on his parents’ memories of the Gorta Mór, or Great Hunger, of the 1840s, when millions of Irish starved to