Twenty Minutes - Bard of Ireland - Irish Melodies

Robbie Meredith marks the 200th anniversary of the publication of the Irish poet and musician Thomas Moore's Irish Melodies. This collection of songs reverberated for over 100 years after their first publication and, according to some, came to define not only Irish music by also the sentimental and romantic Irish character. With contributions from Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney, musicologist Una Hunt and biographer Ronan Kelly. Often compared in style to contemporaries like Walter Scott and Robert Burns, Moore was regarded as one of the most important poets of his era. Moore used melodies from traditional Irish music collections, collaborated on arrangements and added his own patriotic and popular lyrics, and as a result gained himself the title 'Bard of Ireland'.