This article is from page 18 of the 2011-08-30 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 18 JPG
A CLARE couple are seeking to tap into the online music revolution through a new traditional Irish tunes website.
Thetunesfoundry.com is the brainchild of Matt and Áine Heslin.
Musicians can upload recordings which will then be made available as paid downloads. Customers can also purchase manuscripts and listen to music at different speeds in order to learn tunes.
The couple, who live in Kilmurry McMahon decided to design their own website after musician and composer Áine started searching for a suitable site to make her music available on.
Matt explained, “She wrote some tunes and we were looking for a suitable site to put them on. We couldn’t really find one particularly for Irish music, new Irish tunes. So we set up a website called thetunesfoundry. com and we’re uploading her tunes on to that and then other composers are welcome to upload their tunes. We’ll have them in manuscript; a recording of the tune and people can pay for a download. That’s what we’re at.”
He continued, “We originally thought we would have physical paper distribution of manuscript. It’s just kind of impractical. We took some advice. They advised that it’s ideal for an internet business. That’s why we went that road. We came up with the name after a couple of months. We had different names but this one seemed to click.”
Matt explained that the website offers new composers a chance to bring their music to a global audience.
He said, “There are lots of sites for existing tunes. Any composer and I believe there are maybe six or seven people writing tunes in Clare and maybe they had the same problem we did, with nowhere to put the tunes. It’s an opportunity for musicians and anyone to write new tunes. At the moment we’re looking at the Irish tunes.”
He added, “Even abroad people are always looking for new tunes. There are sites for new tunes but none particularly for new Irish tunes. That’s what we want to do, have a quality website, quality manuscript. They’ll get the tune, the person who wrote it, their name would be on the tune with the copyright. Then they can download the tune as well.”
The website went live on Sunday morning with members of the public getting an opportunity to learn about the service at the Open Fair in the West County Hotel.
Matt said, “There has been very good interest. This is a mixed audience. While people are interested, the person who maybe makes the music isn’t here. But they are emailing me now. So we’ll put them on the site and let them know when we are up and running.”
Having been involved in the running of the first Open Fair back in the early nineties, Matt was excited to be a part of the venture again.
He said, “It’s the exact same buzz when I came in today as I got in 1993. People are just delighted for the opportunity to get out and show what they can do. It’s very rare that you get that opportunity, especially when it’s free.”