Series comprises commercial and non-commercial audio material on vinyl, reel-to-reel tape, tape cassettes, DAT tapes. This audio material reflects Derek Bell’s music interests, his solo music career as well as his career with The Chieftains. Many of his published albums are in this series, along with pre-publication and demo copies of the same albums. There are recordings of interviews with Bell both on radio and television and video footage of various television appearances. There are also audio recordings of a number of Bell’s solo performances as well as performances with The Chieftains. Two documentaries made by Alan Tongue about Derek Bell in 1977 and 1988 are also in this series. Bell’s interest in mysticism and ethnic music is reflected throughout his audio collection.
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.
This series is made up of three Thematic Indexes to Irish Dance Music which was compiled on index cards by Breandán Breathnach over a period of thirty years. The index controls about five or six thousand dance tunes in manuscripts, books and on sound recordings. It provides names for tunes without titles, gives the printed history of the tunes, and lists the appearance of tunes in various sources.
This series is divided into two subseries ‘Solo and orchestral performance’ and ‘The Chieftains’. This reflects the two diverse aspects of Bell’s career in music. The series contains material relating to the organisation of rehearsals, performances, tours and recordings. Also includes performance related ephemera such as programmes, posters and flyers as well as memorabilia and awards. There are many newspaper and magazine articles about Derek Bell and The Chieftains in this series.
This series contains photographs taken throughout Bell’s career in music. The images are of Bell performing solo, with orchestras, with other performers as well as with The Chieftains. There are a small number of photographs of other musicians and singers. Also included in this series are a number of drawings given to Bell by children and fans.
