Traditional Irish Singers

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Traditional Irish singers, or sean-nos singers, are singers of traditional Irish songs in the traditional, unaccompanied style. Though some people would consider 'sean-nos' to particularly refer to such singing in the Irish language, the term 'traditional singing' is more universally understood to encompass singing in either language.

Some of the singers listed below are considered to be 'source singers' whereas many other were part of the folk revival, which took place in Ireland and Britain from the 1960s onwards. Some of the singers are known to have sang in both the Irish and English language and if so are listed in both sections below.

Many of the singers listed have competed in the Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann.

1 Source Singers
2 Traditional Irish Singers in the English language:
3 Traditional Irish Singers in the Irish language:
4 See Also
5 External Links

[edit] Source Singers

The term ‘source singer’ is generally understood to describe a singer who has received their style and repatoire through the oral tradition, whether that be through a family lineage or social circumstance. Many such 'source' singers were deemed so upon ‘discovery’ by field researches such as Cecil Sharp, Alan Lomax, Hamish Henderson, Pete Seeger, Ewan MacColl or other song collectors who were prominent in 1950s and 1960s. Although far from precise, the phrase sometimes is used to draw a distinction with so-called ‘revival’ singers, whose style and repertoire are perceived as adulterated by contact with written and other second-hand sources.