In 1987 Malcolm Taylor (VWML librarian), Pat Mackenzie an I travelled to Dublin to the opening of the Irish Traditional Music Archive, opened by the then Irish President, Mary Robinson. To say that all three of us were gobsmacked would be a drasitic understatement - a magnificent Georgian listed building (minus a floor retained by the previous tenants) in the heart of Dublin - more than adequate to fulfil the needs of the recently fledged society.
In a fairly short time the society had outgrown the premises and in 2006 Pat and I were invited to the opening of the new premises,, five minutes walk from the old one also in a listed Georgian house, this time custom adapted for the archive and this time opened by the Arts Minister, John Bruton, Derek Schofield was also in attendance.
A couple of years ago we attended the launch of the project to make available the holdings of the archive on the internet.
Since its inception, the ITMA has benefited from and been an invaluable assistance to the disgustingly healthy Irish music scene - one has been an inseperable part of the development of the other and one would not be where it is without the other.
Whatever direction EFDSS, the VWML or the UK folk scene takes, in order for it to be lasting and effective, it has to be a joint enterprise.
Later on this year the Traditional Song Forum will be holding its meeting at ITMA in Dublin - can I recommend that anybody interested in seeing what can be achieved and prepared to listen to and discuss the subject with some of the people involved, join them.
Jim Carroll