Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections, 2015.196.820b, Connecticut Historical S…

Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program Year 12: Sean-nós Singing by Bridget Fitzgerald

PerformerPerformed by Bridget Fitzgerald Irish

Date2009

Mediumreformatted digital file from audio cassette

DimensionsDuration: 25 Minutes, 3 Seconds

ClassificationsInformation Artifacts

Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections

DescriptionAudio cassette tape recording of the application tape submitted by Bridget Fitzgerald for Year 12 of the Southern New England Apprenticeship Program. A copy of this tape was previously submitted to the Massachusetts Cultural Council Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program, with apprentice Michael O'Leary.

Bridget Fitzgerald performs the following:
1. Droim in Donn Dilis
2. Jimmy momhile stor
3. Airde Cuain
4. The Croppy Boy.

Michael O'Leary performs the following:
1. South Wind - recorded April 6, 2002 at Celtic Ceilidh
2. The Road to Drumleman - recorded April 6, 2002 at Celtic Ceilidh
3. How Can I Live... - recorded as a demo for FSSGB
4. Vanished Like the Snow - recorded March 4, 2000.

Object number2015.196.820a-c

CopyrightIn Copyright

NotesSubject Note: Year 12 (2009-2010) Apprenticeship - The Irish sean-nós singing apprentice Lisa Coyne and mentor Bridget Fitzgerald, related by marriage, were able to spend a lot of time together perfecting the intricacies as well as the repertoire of the form. The two singers held their teachings in Melrose, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island, and gave performances at the Boston Celtic Music Festival in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Ri Ra Irish Pub in Providence, Harrington’s Pub in Wakefield, Massachuetts, and the Horace Mann Elementary School in Melrose, Massachusetts, among other venues.

Biographical Note: Bridget Fitzgerald was born and reared in An Locháán Beag near Indreabháán in the heart of the Cois Fharraige Gaeltacht in South Connemara. Bridget comes from a family of seven children better known locally as Muintir an Tááilliúúra or The Tailor Clan. Her parents Michael and Nan Coyne were known to have a house always open to music, song and craic. For generations singing had been given great importance in their family, and Bridget was named after her grandmother who was rated among the best singers in the area. In 1964 she moved to the States to join her aunts and uncle in Massachusetts, residing there until she moved to Providence; she now lives again in Massachusetts. In 1981 Bridget placed first in the Fleadh Cheoil in New York in English sean-nós style singing and second in Irish sean-nós singing. She can be heard on the album We’re Irish Still produced by Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann. Bridget’s singing received international acclaim upon joining Cherish the Ladies as their lead vocalist in the 1980s. She is one of a handful of sean-nós singers now living in the United States. (source: artist official bio - www.bridgetcoynefitzgerald.com). “I have a significant repertoire of songs in English, which is my second language. The presentation of these songs is noted for the regional influence of Connemara, in the Gaeltacht, where I was raised with Irish as my first language. Therefore, both the Irish language and English language songs in my repertoire reflect a highly ornamented style with the voice pitched in the upper vocal range. My song repertoire in Irish includes content offering historic, romantic, or occasional themes. Songs in English include content from the ballad tradition brought to Ireland centuries ago, as well as songs in English composed in Ireland and abroad that were popularized from the 18th century, onward.”

Bridget has taught master classes at a number of folk music camps. In Massachusetts she worked with apprentice Michael O'Leary, a fine traditional singer, concentrating on the regional style of Connemara, the Irish-speaking area of Fitzgerald's birth in County Galway, Ireland. She has been a mentor artist twice in the Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program: in Year 12 (2009-2010) working with Lisa Coyne, and in Year 20 (201702018) working with Mary Lee Partington.

Subject Note: The Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program is a CCHAP initiative since 1997 that fosters the sharing of community-based traditional (folk) artistic skills through the apprenticeship learning model of regular, intensive, one-on-one teaching by a skilled mentor artist to a student/apprentice. The program pairs master artists from Rhode Island, Massachusetts, or Connecticut with apprentices from one of the other states, as a way to knit together members of the same community or group across state lines. Teaching and learning traditional arts help to sustain cultural expressions that are central to a community, while also strengthening festivals, arts activities and events when master/apprentice artists perform or demonstrate results of their cooperative learning to public audiences. The Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program at the Connecticut Historical Society manages the program in collaboration with the Folk Arts Program at the Massachusetts Cultural Council and independent folklorist Winifred Lambrecht who has a deep knowledge of the folk arts landscape of Rhode Island. Primary funding for the program comes from the National Endowment for the Arts, with support also from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, the Institute for Community Research, and the Connecticut Historical Society.

Additional materials exist in the CCHAP archive for this artist.

Cataloging Note: This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-245929-OMS-20.

Subject Terms