Claddagh Records

Claddagh Records was founded in Dublin in 1959 by Garech Browne. The first album it produced was the classic Rí na bPíobairí (King of the Pipers) by Leo Rowsome. The second Claddagh album was The Chieftains, the very first recording of the now world-famous traditional group. Claddagh went on to make many more fine albums of the Chieftains. During the next number of years Claddagh Records published many of the best traditional artists of the time. It was a revolutionary label also in the sense that it set out to present the leading literary figures in Ireland. Poets such as Patrick Kavanagh, Austin Clarke, John Montague and Seamus Heaney have made records for Claddagh, and the label has also recorded major Scottish poets such as Hugh Mac Diarmid, Sorley MacLean and George MacKay Browne.