TradConnect - a social network for Irish traditional music lovers!

TradConnect was launched in April 2011 and is a new social network for people who play, listen to and enjoy traditional Irish music. With close to 1,000 members, the aim of the site is to connect people that are learning and playing traditional Irish music with other players in their area.

Irish traditional music has always been about meeting up and playing music with other musicians. For many people the local pub session is viewed as the starting point in meeting other musicians. However in many areas there is no weekly session. Joining these sessions for a lot of people can be too daunting an experience. You may not know the tunes, the speed might be too fast or you may not be welcome. Alternatively you may be an advanced player and may be frustrated with the quality of these sessions. Some can be great and many can be average at best. This frustrates a lot of musicians with the result being that there are thousands that do not go out and play.

TradConnect supports the ideas that you only need a couple of musicians in order to get something started. Once you have two or three likeminded musicians you can get your sets of tunes together, practice, socialise and maybe start a weekly session. This can be in your house, in your local pub, at parties or whenever or wherever you want. When you have three musicians you may decide to add a forth or fifth member. Then things can take off and others find you and join. Over time you build up a group of players. You do it your way, at your level and in your own time.

- Tony Lawless, Dublin

ps - You can also follow TradConnect on Twitter via @TradConnect