'Ageing Masculinities and Irish Traditional Music on Screen'

This chapter sets out to examine recent screen representations of older men musicians in Irish traditional music and argues that while such representations confer status and wisdom to ageing musicians, they also contribute to the maintenance of a male-centric tradition and canon. It focuses, in particular, on two recent bilingual non-fiction documentary films: Noel Hill-Aisling Ghéar (2018) and Slán leis an gCeol-Farewell to Music (2019), with Noel Hill and Tony MacMahon as their central subjects respectively and critiques the ways in which ageing masculinity is performed, demonstrating the sustained public status and voice of men musicians throughout the life course.