Remembering Bunting Festival

Every year, the annual Remembering Bunting Festival is hosted, which is a festival centred around harpist Edward Bunting. Usually, our festival is held over the course of around 4 days in Belfast, but this year given COVID-19 circumstances we are delighted to be hosting it online through a series of events, musical performances and academic talks which means the festival can come to you this year with not only local artists and speakers from across the globe also!

In case you’re unsure who Edward Bunting is, he was a historical musical figure born in Co. Armagh Northern Ireland and began formal music studies in Drogheda at the young age of seven. By age eleven, he became organist apprentice at St. Anne’s church in Belfast whilst residing at the home of the famous Belfast McCracken family. At age nineteen, with the shared interests and support of siblings, Mary Ann and Henry Joy McCracken, he was hired to transcribe the music presented at the Belfast Harp Festival in 1792. From 1817 -1819, Edward was the church organist at St. George’s Church, High Street, Belfast.

In addition to organising a second festival in 1813, Bunting went on to become a prolific collector of traditional songs and tunes. His three volumes of the Ancient Music of Ireland, were published in 1796, 1809 and 1840 respectively. Lost for many years, these collective works of approximately 250 items have preserved precious history and heritage in addition to invaluable clues and commentary that would reveal the living art practices and perceptions of the day. Bequeathed to Queen’s University, Belfast in 1916, by his grandchildren through Charlotte Milligan Fox, Secretary of the Irish Folk Song Society, his contribution to traditional music cannot be understated and his story, our story, continues to live on through the music of today both knowingly and unknowingly!

Attached is the itinerary of events over the weekend, so do be sure to tune in if you can. 

You can have a look at our past years events and activities by following us on;