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Commercial and non-commercial CDs. Includes recordings of The Chieftains albums and concerts; solo recordings of Derek Bell; recordings of his compositions including The violet flame symphony and ‘Come on, Northern Ireland’; recordings of radio interviews with Derek Bell; recordings of radio programmes about Derek Bell; and a small number of other musicians’ CDs including Raga Omar Khannam, Secret Garden and Béla Fleck.

Letters, typescripts, programmes, reviews and newspaper clippings relating to the following compositions by Derek Bell Variations on the IDB theme ‘Come on Northern Ireland’, Symphony No. 2 The violet flame - Comte de Saint Germain , Divertissement for a Kerryman and Three pictures from Ancient Ireland in druid times .

Includes concert programmes, ephemera and posters relating to performances by Derek Bell on various instruments including the classical and Irish harp, piano, oboe, cor anglais and cimbalom in a number of countries including Ireland, United Kingdom, Germany, United States of America and Canada. Programmes and posters include ‘Gramophone record recitals, Belfast Public Libraries Music Library, An East-West miscellany, presented by Mr Derek F. Bell’ (12 Jan 1965); ‘Recital of music from many periods and countries by Derek Bell accompanied at the piano by Peggy Johnston and Yvonne Ruttle’ (2 Dec 1972); ‘The Mozart Society Presents Derek Fleetwood Bell’ Musgrove Plantation, Saint Simons Island, Georgia, United States of America (6 Apr 1975); ‘Brunswick Junior College presents Derek Fleetwood Bell, harp and oboe [with] Alice Applegate Smith, piano’ (13 Jan 1978); ‘60 years, BBC Northern Ireland anniversary concert, The Ulster Orchestra’ (17 Oct 1984); ‘Derek Bell in concert, Harbour Festival [Belfast] 1991’ (23 Sep 1991); ‘Music from Bulgaria: a concert of music & songs from the School of Beinsa Douno (1864-1944), St James’ Church, Piccadilly, London [England]’ (15 Nov 1994); ‘University College Dublin International Summer School, July 1998, 50th anniversary celebration concert, harp and piano recital by Derek Bell’ (13 July 1998).

Includes personal and business related correspondence. The majority of correspondence pertains to music in some way with many references to Derek Bell’s performances, concerts, musical appointments, recordings, radio and television appearances, tours, awards as well as his work with The Chieftains. Some letters are personal in nature, for example those from his parents, sister, Deirdre Bell, and wife, Stefanie Bell and various nieces and nephews. The letters are organised by date, undated letter are placed at the end of each file.

Original typed and handwritten letters from various music publishers, music sellers, instrument makers and music librarians to Derek Bell. Two addresses listed for Bell are CEMA [the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts, Northern Ireland], Tyrone House, Ormeau Avenue, Belfast (29 Oct 1957) and BBC Orchestra, Ormeau Ave, Belfast (28 Jan 1972) as well as various private addresses. Letters refer to the supply of sheet music, music books, musical instruments and reeds. Includes letters from Harry Baker, The Oboists’ Music Lending Library, Kent, England; Anthony Wright, Mills Music Publishers, London, England; B. A. Hiscoke, Schott Music Publishers; Síle O’Tierney, Music Librarian, Trinity College Library, Dublin; John Dowd, Musica Obscura, Chicago Illinois, United States of America; Adrian WIlliam, London, England; Edwin A. Moon, London, England; Richard Schauer, Music Publishers & Exporters, London, England; Mikki Henry, International Music Service, New York; William Ring, Howarth of London, England; Severo M. Ornstein, California; The Sorabji Archive, Bath, England; Claire Brown, Kevin Mayhew Publishers, Suffolk, England; Harvey Taylor, Edgar Backus, Leicester, England; Ken Freeman, Harpcraft, Surrey, England; Lark in the Morning, California, United States of America; Lewis Foreman, Hertfordshire, England.

Original typed and handwritten letters from various musicians to Derek Bell. Includes letters from Raymond Warren, Professor of Music, Queen’s University of Belfast; Roslyn Rensch Erbes, Terre Hante, Indiana, United States of America who references various harp teachers including Edmund Schuecker and Rensch’s own teacher Alberto Salvi, she also discusses the music of [Elias] Parish-Alvars (19 Dec 1971); Peadar [Mercier] who includes a limerick which he has written about Bell; The Rt. Hon. The Lord Dunleath, Newtownards, Co Down writes about F. A. Haughton a ‘lecturer in piano-playing, harmony and theory at the Belfast School of Music’ and Bell’s request that Haughton’s name be put forward for an honours recommendation; also includes illustrated letters from a German harp player, Theodor Menzel, Augsburg, Germany; letters from composer Patrick [Piggott] who writes about working on his most recent compositions The quest a ‘work for piano & orchestra’ and a ‘2nd Rhapsody for unaccompanied cello’. There is also a reference to the pianist John O’Connor’s recordings of John Field’s concertos (2 April 1986); letters from Liam Ó Conchubhair, Dublin; Alfredo Rolando Ortiz, Corona, California, United States of America (18 September 1980); Sir Malcolm Arnold, Attleborough, Norfolk, England; Robin Lough, London, England; Fionnuala Sherry, Dublin; De Wayne Fulton, California, United States of America; Lindsay Armstrong, Dublin; Paul H. Hurst, California, United States of America; Kathy Garfunkel; Fran O’Rourke, Dublin; oboist, Rheta Smith; Jim Gardner, Auckland, New Zealand; John Dowd, New Hampshire, United States of America; Frances Ball, Ealing, London, England; David Miller, Oregon Symphony, Portland, Oregon, United States of America; Paddy Moloney, Dublin; and an undated letter from Derek Bell to Leslie ? with a detailed biographical note about Welsh harpist John Thomas.

This collection was created by Derek Bell during his lifetime. The majority of the papers and audio visual collection date from the late 1960s to the late 1990s. There are some papers relating to Bell's early music education in London's Royal College of Music and Trinity College Dublin but the vast majority of materials date from his professional music career. The papers cover Bell's time with the City of Belfast Orchestra and the BBC Northern Ireland Orchestra. His international career as a solo musician, recording artist, composer and his long career with the Irish music group The Chieftains are very well documented in this collection. Derek Bell's interest in Irish music, ethnic music from Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and South America and classical harp music are also evident in the collection. His interest in the relationship between music, mysticism and meditation is reflected both in his papers and his audio visual collection. The first series contains personal papers which include: music papers relating to education, teaching and musical instruments; financial documents; religious papers relating to the guru Gideon Fontalba and the spiritual organisation the Self Realization Fellowship; papers relating to family history; and papers gathered by his widow Stefanie Bell after his death in 2002. Correspondence with family, friends, music publishers, music librarians, musicians and business related correspondence can be found in the second series of this collection. The third series contains papers collected by Bell during his time as a working musician both as a solo and orchestral artist and with The Chieftains. Included in this series are invitations from individuals and organisations to Bell to perform as well as rehearsal schedules, performance related ephemera, reviews, articles, promotional material, tour schedules and awards and certificates. The final two series in this collection contain photographs of Bell and The Chieftains and audio visual material. This material includes Bell's solo recordings as well as The Chieftains many albums. Also included in the audio collection are ethnic music recordings from around the world.

Running Order:
1. Fiesta / Juan Carlos Allende, guitar ; various performers, instrumental music [dub of commercial material]
2. Sleeper / Bela Fleck, banjo ; various performers, instrumental music [dub of commercial material]