Second edition of Traditional Irish Song Calendar released

QR codes link to videos of songs

From Oíche Nollag na mBan to Oíche Chinn Bhliana, Irish songs have marked the year's feasts, fairs and harvests for centuries. The Traditional Irish Song Calendar (Féilire Amhrán Traidisiúnta na hÉireann) returns for 2027: a 12 x 12 wire-bound wall calendar, printed on silk-finish stock, that opens the door to more than 300 songs from the Irish tradition.

This second edition adds 50 new songs, with the year illustrated by archival images from the National Museum of Ireland, the National Gallery of Ireland, the National Folklore Collection and Dublin City Library and Archive.

The songs, as Gaeilge and in English, come from every corner of Ireland. Each month highlights one song with its full lyrics, and QR codes link to videos of the songs performed by some of Ireland's best-loved traditional singers. As much an educational resource as a keepsake, it turns the calendar on the kitchen wall into a way into the tradition.

The calendar is created by Balbriggan-based singer and song-researcher Michael Steen. His repertoire runs from the sean-nós songs of the Gaeltacht to the street ballads of Dublin, and he is a regular voice at An Góilín and singing sessions across the city. It's an unlikely path for a man who grew up near Detroit, Michigan. Love, and a devotion to Irish song, brought him across the Atlantic, and the tradition has since become the centre of his life: he now sits on the committee of An Góilín Traditional Singers.

“I'm delighted with this second edition of the Irish Traditional Song Calendar, 50 songs richer than last year's, with the majority of this year's excerpts different from 2026," Steen says. "This tradition isn't a museum piece. Every generation decides which songs to carry forward, which to revive or change, and which new songs need making. You need only look to what singers in the present day so-called ‘folk-revival’ are recording to see the tradition’s continuation: Lankum with ‘The New York Trader,’ set sail on 4th March; Ye Vagabonds, chant ‘The Hare's Lament’, fearing for his life from the huntsman’s hounds on the 1st of November; Lisa O'Neill mums ‘The Wran Song’ for St Stephen's Day; Madra Salach pay a flying visit to Oíche Fhéile Eoin on ‘Spancilhill’; and “one morning in July” The Mary Wallopers roguishly ask a cailín they meet upon the road where they can find ‘The Blarney Stone’. As Siegfried Sassoon says: ‘The singing will never be done.’”

The first edition, launched at the Irish Traditional Music Archive (ITMA) in November 2025 by Ian Lynch of Lankum, sold nearly 2,500 copies to readers in more than 25 countries. Most went to homes across Ireland and Northern Ireland, with the USA, UK, Australia and Germany close behind. It won admirers among Irish speakers and history lovers alike, including historian, author and podcaster Donal Fallon, who said on his Three Castles Burning podcast: "There's incredible commitment to Michael Steen's work… I have tremendous respect for what he's done."

For 2027, the print run grows to about 3,000 copies, printed by Merlin Press in Balbriggan and in Portland, Maine for North American buyers.

In the run-up to Christmas, Michael will bring the calendar to singing sessions and festivals around the country. Dates include The Lough Shore Sessions in Derrytresk, Co Tyrone (6th–7th November); ITMA's Drawing From the Well concert at the National Concert Hall, Dublin (17th November); Éigse Diarmuidín Ó Súilleábháin in Gaeltacht Mhúscraí, Co Cork (4th–5th December); the Nightingale Singers Club, Belfast (15th December); An Góilín's Puddín Night, Dublin (18th December); and the Crane Bar, Galway (19th December). The Irish Song Calendar Podcast launches in January 2027.

The Traditional Irish Song Calendar 2027 costs €30, with multi-buy prices from €55 for two up to €115 for five. It is available now to pre-order at songcalendar.ie, with Irish orders shipping now. In the USA ($35), the calendar is sold and shipped across North and South America by Ossian USA. From 17th November, ITMA will also sell the calendar at its home on Merrion Square, Dublin, and through its online shop.