On RTÉ Lyric FM’s only programme dedicated to Irish traditional music, Grace Notes, tonight Ellen Cranitch will be playing tunes from a selection of 2012 albums. The programme starts at 7pm, and will feature among other items: Michelle Mulcahy’s new harp CD, Suaimhneas; the new recording from Winifred Horan, Mick McAuley and Colm Ó Caoimh, Sailing back to You; David Munnelly and Mick Conneely’s Tis What it is; Phil Callery’s Landscapes of the Past; and Chapter Eight by the Kilfenora Ceili Band.

As Cranitch says: ‘There were so many good recordings, and there’s only time for a very broad sweep. Could easily fill three hours …’. And I say to RTÉ: ‘Why not?’ In my opinion, there is a curious dearth of traditional music on playlists on Lyric and some soul searching may be required to address it. 

Exceptionally, the presenters on Lyric’s Blue of the Night do give traditional music equal status, and tonight Carl Corcoran will premiere a new Dave Flynn track, which Flynn describes: ‘As a reaction to hearing the same old Christmas songs on the radio and in shops I’ve made a special arrangement of the old Irish standard reel “Christmas Eve” in a modern, minimalist setting using multi-layered electric guitars.’

An excerpt of it can be heard here:

The complete version of this track will be offered as a download to anyone who donates to the Flynn’s Fundit campaign to release a recording of his three string quartets. These include Stories from the Old World, a 20-minute work that fuses the sounds of strings played by Aoife Ní Bhriain (violin), Niamh Varian-Barry (violin), Ciara Ní Bhriain (viola) and Cormac O’Brien (cello), with the uilleann pipes (performed by Aoife and Ciara’s father Mick O’Brien) and sean-nós singing (Breanndán Ó Beaglaoich).