THE archive of one of West Belfast's most celebrated musicians will be on display in the Linen Hall Library, as part of a new exhibition.
Seán Maguire came from a musical family in Clonard and is one of Ireland's most well-respected and well-known musicians. He was only 14 when he made his first recording with the BBC, and is widely regarded as one of the finest exponents of traditional Irish fiddle-playing in the twentieth century.
Dermot Rooney, from the Sean Maguire Music Society, said the exhibition is a "treasure-trove" of artefacts.
"There are two real tiers to what's there," said Dermot. "There are the visual items that people will recognise. There's also a lot of deeper archive material around his musical works.
"There's so much to be done to articulate and understand his importance. Seán had a very very important impact on how our music is understood – the blend of classical training and growing up in the traditional sphere."
Seán Maguire died in 2005. Dermot said that archive displays such as these are of crucial importance.
"If you spoke to Seán about the essence of why he did what he did, he said he was always interested in his own culture, and that the jigs, hornpipes and airs were a worthy subject for the attentions of any serious musician.
"Seán was defined by his culture. His Irishness was so important to him. Culture belongs to all of us in these islands.
"It is a shared culture. We make it very much our own here and we identify with it. People like Seán challenged the limits of that."
