The first  Inishowen International Folk Song and Ballad Seminar took place in 1990 to provide a platform for singing and to affirm the international significance of the Inishowen song tradition. Over a period of 30+ years it has featured a who’s who of traditional singers from Ireland and abroad. A themed approach was taken to focus performance and presentations on subjects such as Emigration, Religion, Love, Murder, Occupations, Humour etc.. Tom Munnelly presented the annual seminar opening lecture until his death in 2007. The audio-visual recording of the annual seminars by Jimmy and by the Irish Traditional Music Archive since 2007, has created one of Ireland’s most important and unique archives of traditional song performance and research.