On Thursday, 6 August, I had the pleasure of presenting The Rose in the Gap, Dance Music of Oriel from the Donnellan Collection at Roe River Books , an independent bookshop in Dundalk, County Louth.

The shop was packed for an evening of traditional Irish fiddle music, stories and local history. I spoke about the people and places behind the collection, the musical traditions of Oriel, and why preserving this music matters for future generations.

The Rose in the Gap brings together a remarkable collection of dance music from South East Ulster and the wider Oriel region. Much of this local repertoire received relatively little attention during the revival of Irish traditional music after the 1950s, which is one of the reasons I felt it was so important to bring these tunes back into circulation.

Betty Black and Ireland's Old Social Dances

One of the tunes I played during the evening was Betty Black, an old reel preserved in the Donnellan Collection. In the collection it appears alongside another intriguingly named tune, Follow My Love to Carlow.

Betty Black also gave me an opportunity to talk about the social history surrounding this music. These were tunes played when people came together to dance, meet friends and socialise.

Some of the older sets and quadrilles gradually disappeared as Irish social dancing changed, while related traditions survived for longer in parts of Northern Ireland. The tunes that remain give us a fascinating connection with that older social world.

I find the names themselves fascinating. Who was Betty Black? What was the story behind Follow My Love to Carlow? The music has survived even where parts of the stories behind it may have disappeared.

If you recognise either of these tunes, remember these dances being played, or heard stories about them from your parents or grandparents, I would be very interested to hear from you.

Watch Betty Black from the Roe River Books Event

Below you can watch part of my presentation at Roe River Books and hear Betty Black played on the fiddle, together with some of the history behind these older social dances.

The event was filmed and photographed by Astory Media , a marketing agency in Dundalk providing professional photography, video, websites and digital marketing services.

Thank you to Tom Muckian and the team at Roe River Books for hosting the event, and to everyone who came along and filled the shop. It was wonderful to see such interest in the traditional music and history of Oriel.

If you would like your own copy, you can buy The Rose in the Gap here . You can also see my upcoming concerts, workshops and traditional Irish music events .

Gerry O’Connor