1990’s
The year 1990 saw another first for Comhaltas when the organisation was invited to visit North Korea to take part in the Spring Friendship Arts Festival the trip being led by the Uachtarán of CCÉ, Domhnall de Barra. The group travelled to Korea via Moscow and created another bit of history with an impromptu performance in Red Square before continuing their journey to Pyongyang.
The following year, 1991 a sixteen strong group of musicians and singers from North Korea visited the Fleadh Nua in Ennis where they took part in the cultural parade and performed a concert at Dánlann an Chláir. After Ennis, the group travelled to Dublin where they performed in the Cultúrlann and were guests of the Lord Mayor in the Mansion House.
1991 also saw the official opening of the Bru Ború Centre in Cashel with facilities including an auditorium, restaurant, craft shop, information centre and genealogy suite.
A fourteen member folk group travelled from North Korea in 1992 to perform at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in Clonmel where they played on the gig rig and at several indoor events, delighting their audiences with their colourful music, song and dance. In October the same year, a Comhaltas group travelled to South Korea where they represented Ireland at the World Megalithic Stone and Folk Festival.
The first Tionól Leo Rowsome was held in 1995 on the 25th anniversary of his death and is now held every September in the Cultúrlann to commemorate the legendary musician and pipe maker who was a founding member of both Cumann na bPiobairí Uilleann and Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. The event is also the occasion for the annual presentation of the Gradam an Chomhaltais award which is given to those individuals who have made an exceptional contribution to the preservation and promotion of Irish traditional culture.
The decade of the 90’s saw further travels to the southern hemisphere when the first Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann tour to Australia took place from 28 April to 21 May 1997, with concerts across the continent taking place in Newcastle, Sydney, cairns, Mount Isa, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Tasmania, Hobart, Adelaide and Perth. History was made in 1998 when the Brú Ború troupe travelled to China and performed on the Great Wall, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
The role of Comhaltas in music education was further expanded when the Scrudú Ceol Tíre was launched in December 1998 by President Mary McAleese at Dublin Castle. The programme provided a graded series of exams designed to measure proficiency in tune playing from a basic level through to a mastery of the tradition.
Clonmel hosted Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann for the first time in 1992 and the festival would return to the town for the two following years, with Listowel and Ballina both hosting the event twice that decade. The last fleadh of the millennium, in 1999, went south to the Wexford town of Enniscorthy.