About Us ...

Bruach Na Carraige centre:

Bruach na Carraige is the first project to realise the potential of Sliabh Luachra music and traditions in the Rockchapel. The 2,000 square foot building, was officially opened by President Mary McAleese 10th June 1999.

The Rockchapel Comhaltas branch provided the inspiration for a`teach ceoil' in the area which would serve not only as a concert venue to promote the wealth of music and culture in Rockchapel itself, but also as a centre of excellence for Irish traditional music. Bruach na Carraige includes an auditorium capable of holding 100 people as well as an exhibition area which is used as an interpretative centre on Sliabh Luachra, and a full archive and library.

 

Sliabh Luachra:

An area of countryside along the Cork, Kerry, Limerick, borders is known as Sliabh Luachra, which is recognised nationally and internationally as the bedrock of traditional Irish music, song, dance, poetry, and culture. Hundreds of years ago the area was sparsley populated. It was an area of bogs, rushes, marshes, and woodlands, an area only suitable for refugees trying to avoid the imperial authorities. After the plantation of Munster in 1583 and the battle of Kinsale in 1601 many dispossessed and consequently, poverty stricken people moved into the area. Its remoteness and the barren soil proved attractive to those people as the authorities were less likely to bother them in their new inhospitable environment. In such circumstances, music, poetry, and dance always trive, and they did trive in Sliabh Luachra. Despite all the hardship they were a happy contented people. Children were reared literate, with many being fluent in Irish, English, Latin, and Greek. The area was blessed with a number of gifted music teachers, whose names are legendary and while traditional music was played in the area for more than a thousand yaers, these gifted teachers gave the music a 'Draiocht' and a feeling that came from the soul of the people, a music that is today a national treasure to be compared with others such as the Ardagh Chalice the Rock of Cashel or the Book Of Kells.