The Irish Traditional Music Archive has announced that it is currently in the process of preparing four previously unheard tracks of Michael Coleman for public access.

Michael Coleman (1891–1945) is one of Ireland’s most influential musicians from the first half of the twentieth century, having made 80 commercial Irish fiddle recordings in New York between 1921 and 1936. His recordings have had a significant influence on the development of the music over the past century.

The four unheard recordings of his playing were made by another Sligo fiddle-player, Lad O’Beirne (1911–1980), in O’Beirne’s home in New York in 1942. O’Beirne gave the two acetate discs of Coleman to accordionist Joe Burke who has safeguarded them since. ITMA has now transferred the discs from Burke’s home in Galway to the archive in Merrion Square in Dublin, and has employed the services of an international expert in cleaning and digitising acetates to undertake the digitisation and preservation of the two discs.

The recordings will be made available on ITMA’s website on 14 February and highlights from the discs will also be broadcast on the Rolling Wave on RTÉ Radio 1 that evening.

For more, visit https://www.itma.ie/latest/news/michael-coleman-new-tracks-itma