I play Irish traditional flute and tin whistle, as well as piano and keyboards. I also dabble in guitar and bouzouki when I’m singing. Below you’ll find some tracks from different bands and recording projects I’ve been involved with over the years. I’m currently playing with the Templeglantine Ceili Band (All-Ireland Senior Ceili Band winners 2010).
All posts by teibiaileen
Music and the Utopian Impulse
As a member of the Ralahaine Centre of Utopian Studies in UL, I’ve become more and more interested in the utopian dimension of music as an art form, but more especially as as a technology of change and hopeful and necessary process. Drawing on the writings of Ernst Bloch, Tom Moylan, Ruth Levitas, and others, I’m currently examining Sun Ra’s ‘Space is the Place’. I’m also interested in utopian thought as it intersects with my work on protest music and social change (see Songs of Social Protest, 2018 and other articles relating to protest song).
Popular Music
I teach popular music studies to predominantly undergraduate students from the Irish World Academy (along with some other UL and visiting students). I particularly love working with first year as it provides a great opportunity to engage with concepts and ideas dealing with identity, performativity, cultural capital, the music industry, and, of course, the politics of taste. We cover everything from Adorno to Nic Hornby, The Monkees and Spice Girls to Lady Gaga and Beyoncé, drawing upon critical and cultural theory, performance studies and fandom studies. Here I am ruminating on why music matters in the world and why you might like to come study with us at UL.
Currently, along with my two colleagues in the Popular Music Popular Culture research cluster in UL (Eoin Devereux and Martin Power), we are developing a new project ’Musically Mapping Limerick’ or L-Pop for short. As well as documenting and curating memorabilia and interviewing musicians, fans, venue owners, promoters, etc, about the local music scene past and present in the city, we are also going to track national and international solo/band visits to Limerick and find ways to mark all of these sites across the cityscape, physically and virtually. We intend to create a map that could be used by tourists and locals alike, and eventually, find a dedicated, interactive space where the rich music heritage of Limerick now and into the future may be celebrated on a permanent basis.
Trip Jig
‘Trip Jig’ by Anish, featuring Aileen Dillane on flute. Opening jig – ‘Jointer O’Shaughnessy’ by Aileen Dillane.
Dolly
Thanks to Mike Kirkpatrick and The Drovers, with Aileen Dillane on vocals.
