Comments from the Press
‘This big generous book is exceptional value… Not only will it rapidly take its place among the great works on Irish song written within the last century, I am convinced its importance will be undiminished at the end of this, twenty-first, century’.
Tom Munnelly, Journal of Music in Ireland
‘This singularly hospitable work, guides us back to the wellspring of our cultural and musical heritage. It is a graphic record of lamentable cultural dispossession, of heroic acts of preservation and triumphant repossession despite all the odds… … a work of recovery and celebration … a magisterial book.’
Dr Séamus Mac Gabhann, Ríocht na Midhe 2003.
‘A timely, absorbing and scholarly account …a triumph of cultural reclamation’.
Patricia Craig, Times Literary Supplement
‘A huge and beautiful work … a cave of treasures’
Angela Bourke, Books of the Year, Irish Times
‘Anyone with interest in Irish song must now look to A Hidden Ulster for the definitive account of that tradition’.
Paul Muldoon, Books of the Year, Times Literary Supplement
‘A momentous publication … a treasure trove of words, a cultural and social history … a work of phenomenal concentration, great tenderness and bighearted loyalty. Proud and heartbroken, it is an heroic attempt to remember’.
Michael Longley, Fortnight Magazine
‘This work is an extraordinarily valuable addition to the literature of Irish traditional music. It instantly joins the list of exceptional works that should be in the library of any lover of Irish song and music’.
Terry Moylan, An Píobaire
This book, truly a labor of love, is a treasure and is highly recommended.
Lillis Ó Laoire
‘A linguistic, musical, and cultural reclamation’
Pól Ó Muirí, Irish Times
‘… an invaluable resource for singers …(the author) successfully combines the rigour and detachment of the professional researcher with the experience and passion of the engaged practitioner’.
Máirín Nic Eoin, Field Day Review
‘A Hidden Ulster is a monumental and magificent repository of the rich cultural legacy of her people. In its 540 pages of lovingly collated material linked by the author’s enthusiastic narrative, a world of music, poetry and the people who wrote, sang and recited them comes alive once more … If Pádraigín Ní Uallacháin has ploughed a lonely furrow and dug deep into the cultural psyche of her people, she has produced a rich harvest that should be treasured by us all’.
Darach Mac Donald, Donegal News
‘A wonderful collection of Gaelic songs, with text translation and musical scores, from one corner of the north of Ireland. With a huge amount of background information about the traditions and people involved. Highly recommended.
Simon Chadwick, Early Gaelic Harp.info
A Hidden Ulster -people,songs and traditions of Oriel is available on order from Four Courts Press, Dublin: http://www.fourcourtspress.