A prestigious Irish cultural publication has published a study by a Manx academic and musician, looking at the history of music in the Isle of Man.

David Speers (above) had his article, entitled The Gaelicisation and ’Manxification’ of Extraneous Ballads in the Manx Song Tradition, printed in the University College Cork’s Folklore and Ethnology journal, Béascna.

David looked at notebooks and papers, held in the Manx museum archive, written by the likes of famous folklorists and archivists such as WH Gill and Dr John Clague, amongst others, to examine the impact that English ballads had on the island when Manx Gaelic was the predominant language.

’I think it’s important be able to look at what we did as a society in the past, such as how we lived, worked and entertained ourselves, and what our attitudes were,’ said David.

’The work of social historians and ethnologists does this, and the end result is that we have a better understanding of ourselves today.

’We are lucky to have an excellent resource in the Manx museum archive, which houses a wealth of items that would help anyone wishing to find out more about our past.’