Comments from the Press (from second edition 2005)
‘‘Pádraigín
Ní Uallacháin, herself an exquisite sean-nós
singer has written a timely, absorbing and scholarly account
…a triumph of cultural reclamation’. Patricia Craig 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 heartbroaken, it is an heroic attempt to remember’.
Michael Longley, Fortnight
Magazine
‘‘A
huge and beautiful work’ . Angela
Bourke, Books of the Year, Irish Times
‘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
‘‘Anyone
with interest in Irish song must mow look to A Hidden Ulster
for the definitive account of that tradition’. Paul Muldoon, Books of the Year,
Times Literary Supplement
‘‘…
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
‘‘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 magificient 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’. Darrach MacDonald, Donegal News.
Shortlisted for
the 2005 Michaelis-Jena Ratcliff Prize in Folklore and Folklife
