Scholarcast 7: Globalising Irish Music

Over the last three decades Bill Whelan has been at the heart of many exciting moments of extraordinary innovation in Irish music across the genres from traditional to rock. Here he documents and considers his varied career to date, from jobbing session musician in the early 1970s to Grammy Award winner in 1997. Donal Lunny and Andy Irvine are recalled as seminal influences on his music during the Planxty years while the founding of Windmill Lane Studios in the 1980s is seen as a landmark moment in the evolution of Irish music across the spectrum. Whelan reflects on Riverdance from inception to global reception. At a time of rapid cultural change he welcomes the creative possibilities brought on by recent immigration to Ireland and argues for the importance of a robust Irish musical tradition.