Regions, regionality and regionalization in Irish traditional music: the role of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann

In this paper I examine the influence of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann on the geography of Irish traditional music and, in particular, the impact of the organisation on regions and regional identities within the tradition. Founded in 1951, CCÉ is the largest organisation involved in Irish traditional music and it impinges on many aspects of the study of regionality in Irish traditional music. As a powerful interest group in Irish traditional music, the organization constructs and communicates ideologies, celebrates and empowers individuals, and creates representations. A mapping of the cultural-geographic patterning of its various activities reveals CCE's construction of newly imagined administrative regions and an historical narrative of ‘the way things were’