West Donegal legend Róise Rua to be inducted into RTÉ Folk Awards Hall of Fame

Róise Rua, a renowned singer from Árainn Mhór, will be inducted into the RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards Hall of Fame next month.

Róise, who was also known as Róise na nAmhrán, passed on a rich heritage of folk music and preserved many songs that would otherwise have been lost, but have now travelled far beyond her home county.

Georgina Dudgeon, a relative of Róise Rua who has been involved in promoting and celebrating her great-grand-aunt’s legacy, will be among the guests of honour at Vicar Street, to accept the award on her behalf.

“Róise Rua - or Róise na nAmhrán - was born in 1879 in Sheshkinarone, near Dungloe, and married Antain Gallagher, An Búistéir, before moving back to the island,” is how Róise is described by Féile Róise Rua 2025, an annual festival in her memory.

“Arranmore remained Róise’s home for the rest of her life, until her death in 1964. Róise, herself, became well known on the island for her singing, and people would often visit her home ‘ag airneáil’. It was Pádraig Ua Cnáimhsí, a local school teacher, who first drew widespread attention to her wealth of song and story in the early 1950s.

“He wrote her biography, from her own telling, transcribed many of her songs, and wrote to the Irish Folklore Commission about her. As a result, Seán Ó hEochaidh, from the Folklore Commission, came to collect songs from Róise in 1953, and returned again with Leo Corduff, Proinsias Ó Conluain and Jimmy Mahon from Raidió Éireann, who recorded 60 of Róise’s songs. These recordings were salvaged in the early 1990s and a selection of them was edited and released by Cathal Goan, under the title Róise na nAmhrán: Songs of a Donegal Woman.”

The Lifetime Achievement Award winner for 2025 will be announced in February, in advance of the awards. Previous winners are Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill (2024), Mary Black (2022), Christy Moore (2021), Steve Cooney (2020), Moya Brennan (2019) and Andy Irvine (2018). (The RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards did not take place in November 2023, as they were rescheduled to February 2024).

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Altan are on the shortlist for Best Folk Act and Meenlaragh native Diane Cannon’s Bean an Fhir Ruaidh is nominated for Best Traditional Folk Track along with Kilcar fiddler Iarfhlaith Ó Domhnaill who has been nominated for a collaboration with Natalie Ní Chasaide.

The awards event takes place at Vicar Street and live on RTÉ Radio 1 on Wednesday, February 26.
Live performances from Junior Brother, Niamh Regan, Landless, John Spillane’s Folk Opera Fíoruisce, plus five-time Grammy award winner, Mary Chapin Carpenter and many more.