Ted Furey manuscript presentation

Musician, singer and composer Finbar Furey recently presented a music manuscript compiled by his father, Ted Furey, to the Department of Irish Folklore. 

The manuscript consists of almost 200 pieces of Irish traditional music, meticulously noted by hand and often with contextual notes regarding sources and musicians. It contains jigs, reels, hornpipes, slip jigs and set dance, as well as some songs, all of them collected in the period from the 1930s to the 1960s. 

The manuscript, which has already been preserved in digitized format, will take its place in the Department's collections alongside the work of other legendary music collectors and scholars such as Breandán Breathnach, Tom Munnelly, Liam de Noraidh, Dónal Ó Sullivan and Séamus Ennis. 

UCD has a special connection with the Furey family in the person of Ted Furey's grand-daughter, Áine, who was awarded a Higher Diploma in Irish Folklore, with Distinction, earlier this year, and who was instrumental in the acquisition by UCD of her grandfather's manuscript. 

Finbar Furey also presented the Department of Irish Folklore with the flute on which he composed the tune, The Lonesome Boatman. 

The presentation was accepted on behalf of the Department by the President, Dr Cosgrove. 

The President, Dr Cosgrove with Áine Furey, who was awarded a Higher Diploma in Irish Folklore earlier this year, with her father, Finbar Furey.