Flying Column (music group)

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The Flying Column was the name adopted by a group of Irish traditional musicians and singers who formed a folk band in Belfast around 1967/68. They took their name from the small tight cells that comprised the IRA active service units during the Anglo-Irish war of 1916-1921.

The main musical and singing contributions to the band were Eamonn and Kathleen Largey (nee McCready) a West Belfast couple. Kathleen Largey had already 'played' Carneige Hall in New York, but chose instead to sing about the various rebellions by generations of Irish men against British occupation of Ireland. Their album Four Green Fields, was released under the GEM label, named after the song by Tommy Makem. This album became a must have for all nationalist households in the North of Ireland after it was released in 1971^{[citation needed]}. It recounted in song the various rebellions from 1798 right through to the IRA border campaign which ended in 1962. The album has never been deleted and is still widely available which is evidence of its timeless success.

The success of this their final album was never to be repeated as Eamonn Largey died in a car crash in 1973. Kathleen Largey continued on a solo career, dedicated mainly to fund raising for the republican cause, right up to her death in 1979 from cancer. [1]