Hugh Shields

Dr Hugh Shields (8 September 1929 – 16 July 2008) was an authority on Irish traditional music and a founder member of the Folk Music Society of Ireland (FMSI) and the Irish Traditional Music Archive (ITMA). He was also a senior lecturer in French at Trinity College, Dublin. He published a number of works on Irish music and folklore. In his spare time, he made field recordings of old traditional songs from people around Ireland, mainly in the north of the island, but also in Belfast, Dublin and several counties in the south of Ireland (including counties Louth, Wicklow, Wexford, Cork, Kerry and Clare)

Early life and academic career Shields was born in Belfast in 1929 and attended secondary school at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution. His friendship with Butcher provided him with a collection of songs, which formed the basis of much of his later research and publication activities.

Shields edited his field recordings for several record companies and for the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. with the aims of encouraging interest and promoting research in the traditional music, song and dance of Ireland. It was involved in organising a programme of public lectures, recitals and seminars. By 2003, the society brought its main activities to an end, though it continued to act in its publishing capacity, and maintained an archival website of digitised material.

The society's publications included its journal, Éigse Cheol Tíre / Irish Folk Music Studies (ISSN 0332-298X), and a newsletter titled Ceol Tíre. The latter was published from November 1973, initially with Shields as editor, and continued by him and Nicholas Carolan (who was secretary of the society 1977–1992) until December 1989. The 33 issues of the newsletter have subsequently been made available as PDF downloads from the FMSI and Irish Traditional Music Archive websites. and Blas: the local accent in Irish traditional music (1995) edited by Thérèse Smith and Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin.

Publications A number of books on Irish folk music, songs and musical history were edited by Shields and published by the FMSI. These include (in chronological order):

Livre de Sibile, by Philippe de Thaon, ed. Hugh Shields (1979), London: Anglo-Norman Text Society. Shamrock, Rose and Thistle: Follk Singing in North Derry, by Hugh Shields (1981). Belfast: Blackstaff Press. (out of print, but a PDF of the book is published on the ITMA website) A Short Bibliography of Irish Folk Song, by Hugh Shields (1985, 2nd impression 1987). Dublin: FMSI ((pdf available from the FMSI website) Oliver Goldsmith and Popular Song, by Hugh Shields (1985), Dublin: FMSI. (pdf available from the FMSI website) Ballad Research. The Stranger in Ballad Narrative and other Topics. Papers read at the European Ballad Conference. Dublin 1985, ed. Hugh Shields (1986), Dublin: FMSI. Old Dublin Songs, ed. Hugh Shields (1988), Dublin: FMSI. (out of print, but a PDF download is available from the FMSI website) Chants corréziens—French folk songs from Corrèze, collected & ed. Hugh Shields (1988), booklet & audiocassette. Narrative Singing in Ireland: Lays, Ballads, Come-all-yes and other Songs, by Hugh Shields (1993), Dublin: Irish Academic Press. ISBN 0-7165-2462-7 (out of print, but a PDF is available from ITMA website) Tunes of the Munster Pipers: Irish Traditional Music from the James Goodman Manuscripts, Volume 1 Tunes of the Munster Pipers: Irish Traditional Music from the James Goodman Manuscripts, Volume 2 All the days of his life : Eddie Butcher in his own words : songs, stories and memories of Magilligan, Co Derry