Remembering Bunting Festival

Introduction

Explore rich cultural and musical history and heritage by honouring the important and significant work of Belfast's "adopted son", Edward Bunting. The Remembering Bunting Festival celebrates its second anniversary with an exciting line up of lectures, demonstrations and concerts as well as interactive workshops, and traditional music sessions. Expert guest speakers, Belfast's own community choirs and world class musicians bring it all together in honour of Edward Bunting and his invaluable contribution to the music of Ireland.

Edward Bunting 1773-1843

Born in Armagh, Edward began formal music studies in Drogheda at the young age of seven. By age eleven, he became organist apprentice at St. Anne's church in Belfast whilst residing at the home of the famous Belfast McCracken family. At age nineteen, with the shared interests and support of siblings, Mary Ann and Henry Joy McCracken, he was hired to transcribe the music presented at the Belfast Harp Festival in 1792. From 1817 -1819, Edward was the church organist at St. George's Church, High Street, Belfast. In addition to organizing a second festival in 1813, Bunting went on to become a prolific collector of traditional songs and tunes. His three volumes of the Ancient Music of Ireland, were published in 1796, 1809 and 1840 respectively. Lost for many years, these collective works of approximately 250 items have preserved precious history and heritage in addition to invaluable clues and commentary that would reveal the living art practices and perceptions of the day. Bequeathed to Queen's University, Belfast in 1916, by his grandchildren through Charlotte Milligan Fox, Secretary of the Irish Folk Song Society, his contribution to traditional music cannot be understated and his story, our story, continues to live on through the music of today both knowingly and unknowingly!

The CEOL Project

The Community Engagement, Outreach and Liaison Project or CEOL for short, was initiated by Comhaltas through its Regional Cultural Centre, Dún Uladh in 2016. The CEOL Project acts as a bridge uniting diverse communities across Ulster to enable the whole community to feel comfortable accessing Irish traditional music sessions, classes, competitions and concerts. CEOL has enabled Comhaltas in Ulster to develop links with similar organizations within the Scottish pipe band sector, such as our project colleagues the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association Northern Ireland and the Music Service for Pipes and Drums. This continues to facilitate exciting new relationships and musical collaborations which explore, showcase and celebrate our shared musical heritage.