Music and MayhemMusic and Mayhem charts the immersive and explosive life of one of Irelands most important musicians, and the golden decade of Irish music he was at the very centre of. Keith Donalds story begins in Unionist east Belfast, hurtling through vivid memories of a childhood as a musical prodigy, first performing at the BBC aged ten. His story takes him to the classics department of Trinity College Dublin in the early 60s, a hotbed of new ideas, before he

on the contrary

and aware of the dramatic irony that has brought him to live in the room next door to Winnie

capturing the remote and sparsely populated West of Ireland and its islands – places of breathtaking beauty and tranquillity – the midlands and Dublin’s streetscapes

from stints as ‘Inspector of Drains’ in Cavan

It is a powerful testament to her enduring influence on the world of dance

describing events during the tumultuous decade from the 1913 Dublin Lockout

an undervalued parish organist clashes with a vain young cleric

Drawings by the author and sketches from contemporary guidebooks illustrate the text

ensuring that his legacy will not be lost

his life as public man and politician

and on the individual families who made these bungalows their homes

John Kelly