Irish traditional music in the context of "Fiddle"

The Irish (Irish: Na Gaeil or Na hÉireannaigh) are an ethnic group and nation native to the island of Ireland, who share a common ancestry, history and culture. There have been humans in Ireland for about 33,000 years, and it has been continually inhabited for more than 10,000 years (see Prehistoric Ireland). For most of Ireland's recorded history, the Irish have been primarily a Gaelic people (see Gaelic Ireland). From the 9th century, small numbers of Vikings settled in Ireland, becoming the Norse-Gaels. Anglo-Normans also conquered parts of Ireland in the 12th century, while England's 16th/17th century conquest and colonisation of Ireland brought many English and Lowland Scots to parts of the island, especially the north. Today, Ireland is made up of the Republic of Ireland (officially called Ireland) and Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom). The people of Northern Ireland hold various national identities including Irish, British or some combination thereof.

The Irish have their own unique customs, language, music, dance, sports, cuisine and mythology. Although Irish (Gaeilge) was their main language in the past, today most Irish people speak English as their first language. Historically, the Irish nation was made up of kin groups or clans, and the Irish also had their own religion, law code, alphabet and style of dress.

The Gaelic revival (Irish: Athbheochan na Gaeilge) was the late-nineteenth-century national revival of interest in the Irish language (also known as Gaelic) and Irish Gaelic culture (including folklore, mythology, sports, music, arts, etc.). Irish had diminished as a spoken tongue, remaining the main daily language only in isolated rural areas, with English having become the dominant language in the majority of Ireland.

Interest in Gaelic culture was evident early in the nineteenth century with the formation of the Belfast Harp Society in 1808 and the Ulster Gaelic Society in 1830, and later in the scholarly works of Robert Shipboy MacAdam, John O'Donovan and Eugene O'Curry, and the foundation of the Ossianic Society. Concern for spoken Irish led to the formation of the Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language in 1876, and the Gaelic Union in 1880. The latter produced the Gaelic Journal. Irish traditional sports were fostered by the Gaelic Athletic Association, founded in 1884.

Irish music is music that has been created in various genres on the island of Ireland.

The indigenous music of the island is termed Irish traditional music (or Irish folk music). It has remained vibrant through the 20th and into the 21st century, despite globalising cultural forces. In spite of emigration and mass exposure to music from Britain and the United States, Ireland's traditional music has kept many of its elements and has itself influenced other forms of music, such as country and roots music in the United States, which in turn have had some influence on modern rock music. Irish folk music has occasionally been fused with punk rock, electronic rock and other genres. Some of these fusion artists have attained mainstream success, at home and abroad.

Gweedore (/ɡwiːˈdɔːr/ gwee-DOR, officially known by its Irish language name, Gaoth Dobhair [ˌɡiː ˈd̪ˠoːɾʲ]) is a Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking) district, and parish, located on the Atlantic coast of County Donegal in the north-west of Ireland. It stretches some 26 kilometres (16 mi) from Glasserchoo and Bloody Foreland in the north to Crolly in the south and around 14 kilometres (9 mi) from Dunlewey in the east to Magheraclogher and Magheralosk in the west, and is sometimes described as one of Europe's most densely populated rural areas. It is the largest Irish-speaking district in Ireland, with a population of around 4,065, and is also the home of the northwest regional studios of the Irish-language radio service RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, as well as an external campus of the University of Galway. Gweedore includes the settlements of Brinlack, Bunbeg, Derrybeg, Crolly (partially), and Dunlewey, and sits in the shade of County Donegal's highest peak, Errigal.

Gweedore is known for being a cradle of Irish culture, with old Irish customs, traditional music, theatre, Gaelic games and the Irish language playing a central and pivotal role in the lives of the local people. This, along with its scenery and many beaches, has made the area a popular tourist destination, especially with visitors from Northern Ireland. Gweedore and the neighbouring districts of Cloughaneely and the Rosses are collectively known locally as "the three parishes"; they form a social and cultural region distinct from the rest of the county, with Gweedore serving as the main centre for socialising and industry.

Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin ([eːnjə ˈpɒˠd̪ˠɾˠɢiːnʲ nʲiː ˈvˠɾˠiːn̪ˠɒːiːn]) (born 17 May 1961; anglicised as Enya Patricia Brennan), known mononymously as Enya, is an Irish singer and composer. With an estimated equivalent of over 80 million albums sold worldwide, Enya is one of the world's best-selling music artists. In addition to being the best-selling Irish solo artist, she is the second-best-selling music act from Ireland overall, after the band U2. Enya's music has been widely recognised for its use of multi-layers of her own vocals and instrumentation, lengthened reverb, and interwoven elements of Celtic music.

Raised in the Irish-speaking region of Gweedore, Enya began her musical career in 1980 playing alongside her family's Irish folk band, Clannad. She left Clannad in 1982 to pursue a solo career, working with the former Clannad manager and producer, Nicky Ryan, and his wife Roma, as their lyricist. Over the following four years, Enya further developed her sound by combining multi-tracked vocals and keyboards with elements from a variety of musical genres, such as Celtic, classical, Gregorian chant, church, jazz, hip-hop, ambient, world, and Irish folk. Her earliest solo releases were two piano/synthesiser instrumentals for the Touch Travel T4 cassette compilation (1984) composed around 1982–83. The majority of the soundtrack for The Frog Prince (1985) was composed by Enya, and she sang two songs with lyrics for the project. Enya also composed a body of work for a documentary series by the BBC named The Celts. A selection of Enya's pieces for The Celts was released as her self-titled debut album in 1986, with the documentary and BBC Records releases in 1987.