About The Irish Music Review

 

Most magazine reviews are effectively ephemeral thanks to the nature of the media. Of course, this is of no importance when the musical genre in question, such as pop or dance music, is essentially transient. However, as far as traditional music is concerned (or any genre where passing fads are largely irrelevant) record-buyers are seldom worried about the date of recordings. So it seemed a worthwhile venture to collect a body of work which will remain of some value as long as recordings are still available.

 

Because I spend much of my life writing reviews, the initial state of the IMR is a collection of as many of my own reviews as I can find, but one of the points of the exercise is to open up the IMR for others to express their own opinions. Thankfully, Philippe Varlet has already given permission for me to use the reviews contained in his Celtic Grooves newsletter (see The Stores Page for details of the Celtic Grooves online store).

 

I know the difficulties which small independent or ‘own’ labels face in trying to attract the interest of magazine editors so I would prefer the focus of the IMR to be on such recordings. However, all reviews are very welcome. Like the Boa Island Janus pictured here the IMR hopes to look both forth and back simultaneously.

 

Geoff Wallis


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