Pádraic’s Playlist
Case study: ARA Archive Volunteering Award 2025
Pádraic’s Playlist
The Irish Traditional Music Archive
Further links:
https://www.itma.ie/playlists/padraics-picks-february2025/ https://www.itma.ie/playlists/padraic-mac-mathunas-monthly-picks-december-2024/ https://www.itma.ie/playlists/padraics-picks-november-2024/ https://www.itma.ie/playlists/padraics-picks-october-2024/ https://www.itma.ie/playlists/padraics-picks-august-2024/
Subject specialist knowledge pertaining to Irish traditional music was applied to the task of describing a variety of recordings from private collections. This involved an iterative process that often begins by drawing on personal knowledge, but often includes consulting on various archival materials including ephemera, print, and photographic sources. The material is then curated and presented in a monthly playlist on ITMA’s website that is free to listeners worldwide, providing opportunities for audience engagement with archive collections.
People within and beyond the Irish traditional music community. There are more people now than any point in history, participating in Irish traditional music, song, and dance. The audience includes both practitioners and appreciators. Placing the playlists online allows a diverse audience to interact with the collections.
The Irish Traditional Music Archive’s (ITMA) mission is to be the national public archive and research centre for Irish traditional music, song, and dance, and the globally recognised specialist advisory agency to advance appreciation, knowledge, and the practice of Irish traditional music. ITMA is home to the largest collection of Irish traditional music, song, and dance anywhere in the world. As a staff, we work to encourage use of our collections; ensure they are easily discoverable and searchable; present and curate the collections; and extend our reach both within and beyond the traditional music community worldwide. Though we are privileged to call a Georgian building in Dublin’s Merrion Square our home, we understand and appreciate that only having a physical premises and access here limits engagement with the collections. We continue to work to democratise access through digitising materials so they can be available to people worldwide with no paywall barriers. This is why projects like Pádraic’s Playlists are vital: allowing people to engage with the materials from beyond the archive’s brick walls in Dublin. Receiving thousands of ‘plays’, the material featured in the monthly playlists inspires and delights many. Instead of these non-commercial recordings sitting idly on reels and cassettes, digitising, cataloguing, and curating them in an accessible playlist has given them new life. Anyone anywhere in the world, as long as they have a connection to the Internet, is able to listen to the playlists curated by Dr. Pádraic Mac Mathúna. Pádraic’s expertise in recognising the musicians and tunes, combined with his personal reflections makes it a valuable resource for people to learn new songs or tunes, research various musicians or regional styles, or simply appreciate the music.
Based on the information gleaned from these sources, metadata was authored in-line with ISAD(g) standards. This work was then evaluated for accuracy of descriptions and standards compliance by a cataloguing specialist. As a part of these tasks, development of a workflow for the purpose of training other cataloguing volunteers was developed.
Along with the process of describing archival collections, and authoring metadata to internationally recognised standards, the dissemination method for this work is also unique. In order to promote access and use of these materials, a variety of audio playlists from the collections have been disseminated on a monthly basis. This dissemination method required the development of additional workflows for retroactive rights-clearance in relation to intellectual property. This is a unique part of the project that has been replicated by few archives or cultural institutions. Additionally podcast-style commentaries have been included as a way to add important context to the recordings.
This project is unique because it makes use of subject specialist knowledge, family background, archival description, and metadata standards in a combination that is quite rare.
From Pádraic’s work, the group of playlist webpages have had 15,484 visitors. The playlists themselves have amassed 6,662 listeners/users.
The outcome of this project is to make these priceless collections freely and openly accessible to the public in a unique and engaging way. It is not only the vital ‘background’ archival work of reviewing, creating metadata and cataloguing, but providing a way for people to engage with these unique recordings. Pádraic’s Playlist has had a tremendously beneficial impact on the traditional music community in Ireland and further afield. Pádraic’s work has led to the democratisation of hundreds of recordings, allowing the community to engage with tracks that had never-before been heard. This material includes recordings from artists who have long passed away, which adds to and enriches the history of Irish music, song, and culture.
Since its commencement in March 2023, the project has evolved over time to include different collections, as well as serving as a template for other specialists to catalogue recordings and create playlists on the ITMA website in a similar style.
The expansion of the project to other collections meant that more focus had to be put on rights and permissions (like contacting family members of performers), and this was a new step for curating and creating the playlist. For example, Pádraic may have identified a recording that would be an incredible addition to the playlist, thus allowing people to listen to unheard recordings- however, if the family did not give permission (often in correspondence with Pádraic himself to ask), then the piece could not be added to the playlist.
These situations do not often arise, but present a small challenge when they do.
Because the playlist is arranged and the material presented on a webpage by other ITMA staff members, sometimes communication could be faster or clearer. There have been a few times, as the playlist goes live each month around the same date, where staff and the volunteer were under pressure from the calendar! This was usually because of the work and many other projects happening at ITMA.
The project has led to both recognition and further opportunities. After receiving such positive feedback from the playlists, in July 2024 ITMA launched a CD featuring select recordings from Pádraic’s cataloguing work to great acclaim.
In addition to this, in 2024 off the back of user feedback, ITMA also started recording a podcast with Pádraic to coincide with the playlist. This podcast allows listeners to hear Pádraic’s perspective on the tracks he picks for the playlist and any stories or anecdotes he has about the performers. This podcast allows listeners to learn more about the history of Irish music, while also providing Pádraic with some recognition for all the work and time he has given at ITMA.
Moving forward, the team has decided to move the date of the upload and announcement of the playlist, giving themselves a few extra days before the end of the calendar month. This way, Pádraic and the team have as much time as possible to complete the playlist and the podcast. Clear communication between team members is very important!
This project will be expanded in the future to include more volunteers and community members. The success of Pádraic’s Playlists has proven that there is not only an audience for the Irish traditional music, song, and dance materials being catalogued, but potential for more cataloguing and rights clearance volunteers. This project can act as a blueprint for training more volunteers.