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I'm a huge fan of Irish music, year round, not just on St. Patrick's Day. That's why I was so happy to see how much Irish music is available on Freegal. Freegal is a music service, offered for free to all Des Plaines card holders, that allows you to stream over 13 million songs, audiobooks and performances 24 hours a day. You can also download 5 songs each week to your own device.

Freegal has playlists on different genres of music to get you started. Check out a playlist to see which artists you like and search for other songs or albums by the artist. Streaming is a good way to sample songs to see if they are ones you’d like to download.

If you want a quick jumpstart, below are some of my favorite Irish songs and artists. These songs, and a few others, are on the Freegal playlist that I created for the library titled Colleen’s Irish Music Playlist.

If Irish music isn’t your thing, Freegal contains music from over 100 countries, so you’re sure to find something to enjoy.

Here are a few songs I would recommend.

If you’re in the mood for…

Famine songs: Fields of Athenry, Skibbereen

Rebel Songs: Come out Ye Black and Tans, Back Home in Derry

Immigration Songs: City of Chicago, From Clare to Here

Pub Songs: The Wild Rover, I’ll Tell Me Ma

Colleen Songs: Star of the County Down, Black Velvet Band

Artists to check out…

The Saw Doctors, Christy Moore, Van Morrison, The Chieftains -- even better, Van Morrison & The Chieftains -- and many, many more.