Not content with the success of Planxty, Dónal Lunny set about reimagining what Irish trad music could be. The band he created are still going strong, writes Ed Power.

A lifetime achievement award, a tour with his diverse ensemble, and a new TV series have ensured Dónal Lunny is as busy as ever, writes Ellie O’Byrne.

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The 37th annual Cork Folk Festival will showcase some of Ireland’s best folk and traditional acts in 12 venues around the city from Wednesday through to Sunday.

BECKY UNTHANK is having an interesting summer. A month ago, she and her band The Unthanks opened Glastonbury festival in Somerset. They were the first act to play the event’s iconic Pyramid Stage.

This year’s Ireland Folk Fest will be held in the tourist town of Killarney in Co Kerry from 24th to 26th of July.

It took decades for ace collaborator Declan Sinnott to finally go it alone for an album, but just three years to produce another one, writes Richard Fitzpatrick

Find out what’s going on in the worlds of arts, film and culture before you start your weekend.

From Kate Bush to Mozaik, Donal Lunny has always pushed boundaries, writes Ed Power

THE first night Declan Sinnott stood in front of an audience in 2012 to perform from his solo album I Love The Noise It Makes he all but died on stage.

Icon of popular culture Bob Dylan likes playing in Cork so much he’s agreed to perform again at this year’s Live at the Marquee.

Highlights of next week’s festival

Bands including Boyzone and The Corrs along with hundreds of others shared a €37.7m bonanza last year from the public performance and broadcast of their songs.

A new book recalls the musical institution on Cork’s Union Quay. Don O’Mahony finds out what made the venue special

A PHOTO of 22-year-old Kevin Sinnott hung at the end of his coffin as it lay in front of the altar of a Co Cork church before his requiem Mass yesterday morning.

FAMED by a certain generation of Dubliners as one of the city’s great live music venues, a new version of the Baggot Inn opened to a different fanfare last night.

ALTERNATIVE rock band, The Flaming Lips, and folk legend, Christy Moore, have been added to the line-up of the Cork summer music festival Live at the Marquee, Aiken Promotions is expected to announce today.

To set the scene for the first part of our Top 50 poll, Joe McNamee looks at the state of play in the Irish music industry.