National identity and local ethnicity: The case of the Gaelic League's Oireachtas sean-nós singing competitions

LILLIS Ó LAOIRE lectures in Irish Language and Literature at the University of Limerick, Ireland. He is also Director of Ionad na nAmhran (The Song Centre), which promotes the study and performance of traditional song in Ireland and which has, so far, produced two television documentaries. The centre also hosts an annual traditional song day. Lillis has recently finished his Ph.D. on the dynamics of transmission and performance in Tory Island, a small Gaelic speaking island community off the coast of his native Donegal. Other interests in song studies include the effect of nationalism on song and the aesthetics of traditional song. He is also a well known performer who has made numerous television appearances and has won Corn UI Riada, the O Riada cup, for traditional song in Irish on two occasions.