Event to shed light on national importance of Derry born music collector Honoria Galwey

The contribution of 19th-century traditional music collector Honoria Galwey to Inishowen’s traditional music heritage is to be acknowledged with a special event at next month’s Éaragail Arts Festival.

Galwey was an important collector of traditional music and song in Inishowen, and collected extensively around Moville and the surrounding areas in the 1800s.

Born in Derry in 1830, she spent much of her life in Moville where her father became a Rector of the Church of Ireland Parish of Lower Moville shortly after her birth.

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Brought up in Gortgowan, a house on the shores of Lough Foyle close to Moville, her early life was filled with music.

As a young teenager, she began to gather tunes from the locality and transcribe them in notation. She later travelled throughout Donegal collecting songs and music. 

On her death in 1925 she was lauded as a great authority on Irish folk songs and a collector of national importance.

Inishowen Traditional Music Project is presenting an exploration of  Galwey’s life and music at St Mary’s Hall in Buncrana on July 24.

The event, Between Two Worlds: Honoria Galwey - A Portrait, is a documentary film screening and live music performance, and is aimed at helping to illuminate the life and work of Galwey.

Research for the project, which has been supported by the Arts Council of Ireland and Donegal County Council, has been a collaboration between noted historian Dr Angela Byrne and composer and arranger Martin Tourish.

The show will be staged in Buncrana Cinema at St Mary’s Hall and will contain a new arrangement from Galwey’s collection by Martin Tourish. Music and songs will be performed by an ensemble of Inishowen musicians.

Between Two Worlds: Honoria Galwey - A Portrait takes place on Thursday, July  24 at St Mary’s Hall, Buncrana, with general admission €15.