History of the Fleadh

The Fleadh Cheoil
In the years before the Fleadh, although the ordinary people of Ireland loved traditional music, the thousands of traditional musicians in the country were largely unappreciated in popular social and intellectual circles. The aim of the Fleadh was to promote traditional music and to arrest the decline in its popularity. The cream of traditional Irish musicians attending the Fleadh played a major role in furthering this aim. Fleadhanna Cheoil gave traditional musicians a platform where they could play to an appreciative audience and where traditional style was the criterion. That first Fleadh Cheoil in 1951 attracted only a few hundred patrons - a small but enthusiastic crowd. Within five years, however, this annual gathering had grown to become a great National Festival attended by thousands of traditional musicians, singers, and dancers from all parts of Ireland and overseas.
Another goal of the Fleadh Cheoil was to establish standards in Irish traditional music through competition. For this reason the Fleadh initially developed as a mainly competitive event, but it also included many other aspects such as concerts, céilithe, parades, pageants, and street sessions thus appealing to a wide range of tastes. This facet of Fleadhanna was further developed in 1970 with the introduction of Fleadh Nua which concentrates mainly on non-competitive events. Fleadh Nua started in Dublin but in 1974 it moved to Ennis, County Clare where it’s colourful and innovative programme of activities has established it as a firm favourite in the annual calendar of Comhaltas events.
Right through the sixties and seventies, the Fleadh continued to grow and the number of would-be competitors grew so large that qualifying stages had to be arranged, at county and provincial level, to produce a manageable number of participants for the All-Ireland finals at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann.

Today Fleadh Cheoil events are organised annually in every county in Ireland, in each region of the UK and North America culminating in Provincial Fleadhanna and finally Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann. Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann 2000 in Enniscorthy attracted over 200,000 patrons including amongst their number more than 10,000 musicians. These traditional enthusiasts carry on the great tradition of playing and cherishing our music, song and dance thereby ensuring the survival and further development of the Fleadh Cheoil concept.