ABOUT

Céad míle fáilte! A hundred thousand welcomes - the traditional greeting in the Irish language. And so I welcome you, wherever you may be, to my blog, dedicated to the Irish harp.

My name is Valerie, I am a harpist and singer. Through my maternal grandmother Mary Lonergan of Dún Bleisce, Co Tipperary, I am descended from the O'Lonergans, one of Ireland's few families of hereditary harpers whose harping tradition can be traced back to the 11th century.

I am blessed to live here in Ireland, surrounded by the beauty of the Donegal coastline. I hope you'll enjoy browsing my blog, learning more about the Irish harp, Irish culture and enjoying some of my music.

Valerie Frewen, Irish harp blog
Photo taken at a performance in the ancestral castle of the O'Donnells, Co Donegal

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Instrument - a Brian Callan Harp

Image
The title of my blog is 'My Irish Harp' and now I would like to introduce you to my instrument. And of course being an Irish harp, it has a story to tell! This beautiful instrument was made to order for me by Brian Callan of Callan Harps in Craughwell, Co Galway, Ireland. I came across his harps quite by accident when my sister decided to help me in my quest for a suitable instrument. By some incredible coincidence, his workshop is located not far from the home of my harping ancestors, the   O’Lonergan's ! I checked out the website and video clips and knew right away that this was the harp for me and I need look no further.  This particular harp is made, like all his harps, from various types of native Irish timbers. The sound board is spruce, the sound box is made of spalted beech and the neck and pillar are fashioned from rippled sycamore. The rib - that is the strip of wood which runs along the centre of the soundboard - is made of six thousand year old bog oak, carbon
Read more

The Life and Legacy of Caroline Townshend - Part One

Image
The harp, the symbol of Ireland. We see it all around us every day, on our passports, on our coins, even on the branding of our famous stout and yet there was a time, not so very long past, when ‘the harp that once through Tara’s Halls’ was seldom heard in this country.  The name Caroline Townshend is known to only a handful of people in Ireland but if any deserves to be a household name, surely it is hers, for it almost entirely due to her efforts that the ancient Irish harping tradition became firmly re-established. Singer with a clàrsach by Cathleen Mann (1896--1959) In ‘Our Musical Heritage’, the late Seán Ó Riada wrote: "At the end of the nineteenth century, attempts were made once more…..to get the true ancient harping tradition going again, but by this time the nature of the tradition had been forgotten. It was not until the early nineteen twenties, when a Miss Townsend (sic) of Castletownsend (sic) in County Cork put her mind to it, that any progress was made." A sign
Read more

The Life and Legacy of Caroline Townshend - Part Two

Image
In a previous post, I began an account of the life of Caroline Townshend, a remarkable Anglo-Irish lady and a hugely influential, yet unsung, heroine of contemporary Irish harping history.  Where, when or how Carrie became interested in the Irish harp we simply do not know. It may possibly have been a natural consequence of her Gaelic League membership. Some part may have been played by one of her closest friends, another remarkable woman, Dr. Annie Patterson, a native of Armagh, who founded the Feis Ceoi l music competition in Dublin.  Dr Annie Patterson In 1926 the Feis Ceoil syllabus for that year includes The Townshend Cup presented by Miss Carrie Townshend, to be awarded for the singing of two songs in the Irish language, to one’s own harp accompaniment on the Irish harp.  The archives of the Feis Ceoil contain a three page document (sadly undated), enticingly titled 'For the Adjudicator of the Townshend Cup'. I hope to have an opportunity to inspect it at some point and
Read more