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Ireland and music are as inseparable as fish and chips. Traditional
music may form the well-known cultural backbone, but there is also an
important, though often ignored, body of classical composition. Artistes
such as Van Morrison, Thin Lizzy, U2, The Corrs and Sinéad O'Connor have
ensured Ireland's prominence in the world gazetteer of rock while also
carving out a niche in the pop world through a succession of successful
boy bands such as Boyzone and Westlife and their girl counterparts B*witched
Traditional music
Kept alive by a combination of historical, political and cultural forces,
Irish traditional music remains one of the richest musical cultures in
the Western world. In Ireland itself, the growing interest in
traditional music is further evidence of a national maturity that allows
Irish people to be more relaxed about aspects of their traditional
culture. Consequently, traditional music is neither seen as backward,
rural and something shameful, nor is it a stick of cultural purity for
fending off the twenty-first century. Long after much traditional music
in the industrialized West has ceased to exist in any meaningful way,
Irish music continues to refashion itself, not as introverted, stagnant,
and nationalistic, but as an evolving and progressive part of a common,
universal oral folk tradition.
Most of the instrumental music the visitor will hear in Ireland is dance
music (such as reels, jigs and hornpipes), originally played in kitchens,
barns and at crossroads, usually to mark an occasion, such as a wedding
or a wake. The melody of any dance tune is but bare bones to a
traditional musician; it's dependent on performance for flesh, blood and
soul. Through ornamentation, decoration and embellishments the performer
breathes life into the music and this controlled extemporization allows
the player to re-create a tune with each rendition.
Sean nós and the vocal tradition
Songs in the Irish language are at the heart of Irish music and the most
important belong to a tradition known as sean nós (literally "in the old
style"). An unaccompanied singing style of great beauty and complexity,
it is thought to derive in part from the bardic tradition which died out
in the seventeenth century with the demise of the old Gaelic order,
though other recent research has suggested links to North Africa. Hugely
demanding for both singer and listener, it requires the skill of the
former to vary the interpretation of each verse by means of subtle
changes in tempo, ornamentation, timbre and stress, while the latter
needs to possess the knowledge and discrimination to appreciate fully
the singer's efforts. To the untutored ear it can easily "sound all the
same", with its slightly nasal tone and unemotional manner of
performance, but perseverance will lead to great rewards. Sean nós
remains strongest in the Gaeltacht areas, especially Connemara, while
the marvellous Iarla O'Lionáird (from west Cork) has taken the art form
to international audiences, especially through his work with the roots-dance
fusion outfit Afro Celt Sound System.
The session: Music and crack
Travellers to Ireland will most likely come across traditional music in
a pub setting and these quasi-impromptu musical get-togethers are known
as " sessions ". These are the life-blood of traditional music,
accompanied by the associated notion of craic (or crack) whereby music,
conversation and drink combine to produce an evening of fun. A session
is not strictly a performance, but more of a dynamic of entertainer and
listener - a group of people enjoying the craic together. While sessions
take place all year round in the major cities, summer is the optimal
time for sessions in traditional music's heartland, the west of Ireland,
and a few enquiries locally will point you to the best.
The instrumental repertoire mainly consists of dance tunes, but there
are also pieces known as Fonn Mall - "slow airs" - played without
accompaniment and usually to hushed attention. Most are laments or the
melodies of songs, some so old that the words have been lost. The
uilleann pipes are particularly well suited to the performance of airs,
as their plaintive tone and ability to produce complex ornamentation
cleanly allows them to approach the style of sean nós singers .
Playing in groups or with accompaniment is a prominent feature of
traditional music performance today. One of the most exciting exponents
of this style is the band De Dannan , which in its heyday featured three
women singers who went on to have solo careers in commercial rock: Mary
Black, Dolores Keane , and Maura O'Connell . Ireland's best-known
traditional band, The Chieftains , carry on the virtuoso tradition, too.
This group was the spearhead of the 1960s' revival of Irish traditional
music, which itself was largely due to the efforts of the group's
founder, composer and arranger, Seán Ó Riada . Living in the Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking
area) of Cuil Aodha, renowned for its singers and passionate devotion to
music, Ó Riada hit on the idea of ensemble music-making using
traditional instruments like the pipes, fiddle and whistle. It was a
brilliantly obvious innovation and, over the past four decades, The
Chieftains, led by whistler and piper Paddy Moloney , have developed the
concept of ensemble playing to the point where it has become universally
accepted and adopted. In addition, Ó Riada brought his genius for
interpretation to bear on choral, liturgical and orchestral music.
A widely known musician exploring the ensemble format is Sharon Shannon
. Playing furiously energetic dance music, Shannon is a mesmerizing
button accordion player who can also turn her hand to the fiddle and
spent some time with The Waterboys before forming her own band. Her
first solo album mixed well-known and much-played tunes like The Silver
Spire and O'Keefes with cajun, Swedish, and new material in traditional
style. Her profile was further enhanced by her involvement with the
Woman's Heart album combining with Maura O'Connell, Frances and Mary
Black, Dolores Keane and Eleanor McEvoy to produce one of the most
successful traditional albums of all time, while her more recent albums,
Each Little Thing and The Diamond Mountain Sessions , are less
traditional but exude the ebullience that has become her trademark.
Donegal-based Altan derive their energy from a twin fiddle attack led by
Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and Ciaran Tourish coupled with the phenomenal
accordion work of Dermot Byrne , while their earlier recordings feature
the exquisite flute playing of the late Frankie Kennedy - all can be
appreciated on their stunning album Island Angel . Dervish , based in
neighbouring Sligo, are another effervescent grouping and feature the
extraordinary range of singer Cathy Jordan, a dab hand on bones and
bodhrán too. Other bands to look out for include Danú , from County
Waterford, who create a mighty musical confection, enhanced by another
remarkable sean nós singer, Ciarán Ó Geabháin , and the Cork-based Nomos
, featuring the remarkable concertina player, Niall Vallely. Coolfin ,
led by traditional alumnus, Dónal Lunny , brings together some
staggering talent, including singer Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill and piper
John McSherry , who himself was a one-time member of Lúnasa , a band
which harnesses the instrumental prowess of fiddler Seán Smyth and flute-player
Kevin Crawford . The American band Solas represent a marvellous dynamic
between aggression and tenderness, drawing on the skills of multi-instrumentalist
Seamus Egan , fiddler Winifred Horan and singer Deirdre Scanlan .
Instruments and players
We've included mention of some of the best instrumentalists on the Irish
music scene in this round-up of traditional instruments. If you get the
chance to see any of them at the festivals, don't miss it
Folk meets traditional
Singing folk songs to instrumental accompaniment became enormously
popular in Ireland in the 1960s with the triumphal return from America
of The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem (three brothers from Tipperary
joined by a member of a well-known Armagh musical family). The Clancys
had taken New York's Carnegie Hall and the networked Ed Sullivan Show by
storm, and they were welcomed home to Ireland as conquering heroes.
Their heady blend of rousing ballads accompanied by guitar, harmonica,
and five-string banjo revitalized a genre of folk song that had all but
vanished. Hundreds of sound-alike ballad groups sprang up, decked out in
a motley selection of ganseys - The Clancys' and Makem's hallmark was
the Aran sweater. Before the ballad group fashion petered out, it had
laid the foundations for a revival of interest in popular folk singing
that endures to this day. Still going strong is another great group of
this era, The Dubliners . With an uncompromisingly urban image, in
contrast to the rather twee Oirishness of The Clancys, their work was
often bawdy and their ribald spirit was captured in the most popular
song of this era, Seven Drunken Nights (although the Dubliners only
recorded five of them, it still managed to be banned from Irish radio).
Earthiness may have been part of the reason why their true musical
accomplishment was never fully appreciated for, as well as fielding two
unique singers, Luke Kelly (who died in 1984) and Ronnie Drew , they
boasted two fine instrumentalists, banjoist Barney McKenna and fiddler
John Sheahan . In many ways they helped lay the groundwork for the
fusion of the traditional/ballad genre explored by bands such as
Sweeney's Men, The Johnstons, The Bothy Band and, most influential of
all, Planxty .
Planxty was formed from the musicians recording Christy Moore's
Prosperous album and the evolution of traditional music can be traced
through the band members' post-Planxty recordings. The band consisted of
Liam O'Flynn, Dónal Lunny, Andy Irvine and Christy Moore and their self-titled
first album (known as "The Black Album") mixed traditional, modern folk
and ballad singing through harmonies backed by O'Flynn's superlative
pipe playing. They recorded three albums before their split and a
selection from each is available on the 1976 album The Planxty
Collection . The band reformed again in 1978, adding the former Bothy
Band and currently Chieftains' flute-player, Matt Molloy , to their
ranks. Their best work in this period is The Woman I Loved So Well but
the band split finally when Lunny and Moore moved on to stretch the
traditional genre even further with the formation of Moving Hearts.
Moving Hearts radically attempted to fuse traditional and rock music and
almost succeeded. Consisting of two pipers, saxophone, bass and lead
guitars, electric bouzouki, drums and percussion, their gigs were
memorable feasts of exciting music, seeming simultaneously familiar and
new. Too large to survive financially, the band sadly folded in 1984.
Since then there have been a few reunions which have played to crowds of
fans old and new. Released after their break-up, their 1985 album The
Storm is a landmark in its pioneering use of rock and jazz idioms to
redefine the harmonic and rhythmic foundations of Irish music.
Moore has since moved on to become possibly Ireland's best loved singer
recording a number of highly successful and acclaimed albums. In his
first recordings, such as the album Prosperous , he was overtly
political in the style of Woody Guthrie or the early Bob Dylan. This
commitment is also evident in his recordings with Moving Hearts, such as
his protest against state repression No Time for Love and, in the mid-1980s
album The Time has Come , his song Section 31 which criticizes the
Republic's media censorship of Sinn Féin. Though Moore has become less
politically engaged, his popularity has been maintained through stunning
live performances, including regular mainstays such as the comic
Lisdoonvarna and the ballad, Ride On . Finally, in 1996, after years of
singing others' songs, he released a self-penned album Graffiti Tongue .
In 1998 he announced his retirement on the grounds of ill-health, but
returned at the end of the following year with a grand new album and a
barn-storming series of gigs.
Moore's brother Barry records under the name Luka Bloom (a combination
of Suzanne Vega's song and the protagonist of Ulysses ). Early on he
backed his brother who recorded some of Bloom's work, most notably The
City of Chicago . With a reputation himself for magnificent live
performances he has also made some fine albums including Turf and Salty
Heaven .
Of the other musicians recording crossover traditional music and folk in
the Sixties, Paul Brady continues to produce music of an exceptional
standard. From Strabane in County Tyrone, Brady became involved in the
Dublin folk renaissance while studying there in the 1960s. His first
recordings were made with the Johnstons with whom he made seven albums
before leaving for London and New York, returning in 1974 to join
Planxty for a short time. In 1976 he teamed up with Planxty member Andy
Irvine and the album they produced, with its unique and sensitive
interpretations of songs such as Arthur McBride , make it one of the
finest albums in the traditional canon. His work in the late Seventies
was of an equally high standard culminating in arguably his best solo
album, Welcome Here Kind Stranger , in 1978, featuring his benchmark
rendition of The Lakes of Pontchartrain . The 1980s saw Brady move away
from his traditional roots through Hard Station (1981) which included
the passionate exposé of anti-Irish racism, Nothing but the Same Old
Story . Subsequent albums have further highlighted his tremendous
songwriting talents - he's been recorded by Tina Turner and Eric Clapton
among many others and the best way of sampling these is his remastered
compilation Nobody Knows .
Contemporary bands striving for new ways to express the tradition are
the excellent Kíla , whose latest album Lemonade & Buns mixes
traditional singing with African rhythms, the superb Afro-Celt Sound
System, Anam , who draw on a rich variety of musical influences from
jazz and blues, and Anúna , a vocal group spanning classical, folk,
traditional and contemporary. Other experimental outfits include Flook ,
featuring the astonishing young bodhrán player John Joe Kelly and a twin
flute attack, and Cran whose blend of flute, uilleann pipes and bouzouki
is married to song arrangements of both exceptional candour and beauty.
Originally a jazz-influenced folk band, Clannad 's mix of atmospherics (sometimes
known as "Celtic hush" music) has brought the group huge international
success.
Any examination of Irish traditional music must include a reference to
The Pogues . Originally known as Pogue Mahone ("kiss my arse" in Irish),
this London Irish band emerged in the early 1980s playing a chaotic set
of "Oirish" standards and rebel songs. Iconoclasts to the core, they
brought a punk energy to the Irish ballad. They were also blessed with
one of the finest Irish songwriters of recent years, Shane McGowan . His
songs captured the casualties and condition of Irish exile in London and,
said fan and producer Elvis Costello, "saved folk from the folkies".
Certainly they helped bring a new audience, and a new generation of
musicians, back to look at its roots. McGowan subsequently formed his
own band The Popes and released three albums, though none matched the
glorious exuberance of The Pogues' Red Roses for Me or Rum, Sodomy and
the Lash .
Rock, pop and whatever you will
Naturally, Ireland's rock scene has always borne close similarities to
Britain's. Physical proximity, the permeation of British mass-media,
especially radio and the influential rock press, and British stars' use
of Dublin as a tax haven have all facilitated a musical currency between
the two. What happens in London, Liverpool or Manchester tends to be
mirrored in Belfast and Dublin and, occasionally, vice versa. However,
there are two significant exceptions. First, apart from mavericks like
Richard Thompson, British rock and pop bear little indication of any
traditional folk origins, whereas Irish rock culture is steeped in it -
a hardly surprising conclusion considering the number of Irish musicians
who learn a traditional instrument and its associated tunes at an early
age. Secondly, the overwhelmingly mono-cultural nature of Irish society
means that important components of the British scene - reggae, ragga,
bhangra, black dance and soul music in its many variations - are rarely
experienced first-hand or develop from cultural traditions. Two Tone,
for instance, could never have happened in Dublin, just as a host of
Clannad clones is never likely to appear in Coventry. Nevertheless, the
country's rock heritage is a rich one and, for every dozen bands trying
to be the new Radiohead, there's always something happening in the pubs
and clubs of Dublin, Belfast and Derry
Twenty essential Irish rock albums
A House I Am the Greatest (1991;Setanta UK).
Paul Brady Hard Station (1981; Mercury UK).
Mary Coughlan Under the Influence (1987; WEA UK).
The Divine Comedy Casanova (1996; Setanta UK; Red Ink US).
The Fat Lady Sings John Son (1993; East West UK).
The Frames dc Fitzcarraldo (1996; ZTT UK; WEA/Elektra US).
Gavin Friday Shag Tobacco (1995; Island UK).
Hothouse Flowers People (1988; London UK; Polygram US).
Microdisney The Clock Comes Down the Stairs (1985; Rev-Ola UK).
Van Morrison It's Too Late to Stop Now (1974; Warner UK; A&M US).
Moving Hearts Moving Hearts (1981; WEA UK).
The Pogues Rum, Sodomy and the Lash (1984; Stiff UK).
Sinéad O'Connor I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got (1991; Ensign UK;
Chrysalis US).
The Stars of Heaven Sacred Heart Hotel (1986; Rough Trade UK).
Taste On the Boards (1970; Polydor UK).
Them Angry Young Them (1965; Decca UK).
Thin Lizzy Jailbreak (1976; Vertigo UK; Polygram US).
Pierce Turner The Compilation (1998; Beggars Banquet UK).
The Undertones The Undertones (1979; Sire UK; Ryko US).
U2 The Joshua Tree (1987; Island UK; Polygram US).
Classical music
As in the visual arts, Ireland has a strong classical music tradition,
though it's little-known outside the island. The dominant instrument of
early music was the harp , though we know lilttle of how it was played
since no written record has survived. However, more than two hundred
works by the poet, harpist and composer Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738)
have survived. His work, together with the performances of the
participants at the 1792 Belfast Harp Festival , transcribed and
published by Edward Bunting , were the prime sources of the airs which
have formed a major component of Irish music since that time.
During the eighteenth century, Dublin became an important musical centre
and attracted many European composers, including Handel , who staged the
premiere of the Messiah in the capital in 1742. The first native
classical composer of note was John Field (1782-1837), who, as a child
prodigy, was apprenticed to Clementi to demonstrate pianos. He taught in
Europe for several years and produced a significant body of keyboard
work, especially his 19 Nocturnes which considerably influenced Chopin
and other Romantics.
Another precocious child was Michael Balfe (1808-70), who made his debut
as a violinist at the age of nine, though he had already begun composing
two years earlier. During the 1820s, he studied under Rossini and became
converted to the opera form. Numerous compositions followed and his The
Bohemian Girl was a success of the time. From 1846, he was conductor of
the London Italian Opera. Similarly popular were the operas of Waterford
man Vincent Wallace (1813-65), particularly Maritana and Lurina . This
Irish operatic tradition was continued by Victor Herbert (1859-1924), a
cellist who played in the orchestras of Joseph Strauss before emigrating
to the US to join the New York Metropolitan Opera Company. His forte was
the comic opera and he became popular for songs such as Sweet Mystery of
Life before settling down to pen more serious work. Most prolific in
this period, however, was Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924), who was
organist at Trinity College, Cambridge. After a stint teaching at the
Royal College of Music he became Professor of Music at Cambridge and
taught numerous young British composers of the era. In his own right he
adapted Tennyson's poetry to choral settings, wrote a number of operas
and religious pieces. His origins are reflected by his Irish Symphony
and Six Irish Rhapsodies .
In the first half of the twentieth century, Hamilton Harty (1880-1941),
from Hillsborough, Co. Down, attained a degree of fame through his
conducting of the Hallé Orchestra from 1920 to 1933 and revived Handel's
popularity through his arrangements of the Fireworks and Water Music
suites. However, his own work, including an Irish Symphony utilizing the
strains and melodies of traditional songs, is less well known. A.J.
Potter (1918-80), the son of a blind Belfast piano-tuner, was Professor
of Composition at the Royal Irish Academy of Music for almost twenty
years and his own eclectic style influenced many of his students. Other
notable figures have included the popular conductor Brian Boydell
(b.1917) whose works for orchestra and string quartet are influenced by
Bartok and Hindesmith, and Gerard Victory (1921-1995), who became well-known
via his work with the RTE Symphony Orchestra from 1967 onwards. Head of
Music at the RTE for some of the same time was John Kinsella (b.1932)
until he resigned in 1988 to devote himself to full-time composition,
subsequently producing a number of influential works. Seóirse Bodley
(b.1933) has written five full symphonies and numerous other works
revealing influences ranging from the European avant-garde to
traditional song. Gerald Barry (b.1952) studied composition under
Stockhausen and has had many works commissioned by the BBC, additionally
penning operas for the ICA and Channel 4. The flautist John Buckley
(b.1951) has produced a range of works for solo instruments and various
ensembles. Intriguingly, the latest generation of composers producing
influential work includes a significant number of young women ,
including Elaine Agnew, Rhona Clarke, Siobhan Cleary and Deirdre Gribbin
- a trend which bodes well for the future.
Finally, the more popular end of the home market has come to be
dominated recently by composers experimenting with adaptations and
reformulations of Irish traditional music. Notable exponents include
Patrick Cassidy, Michael Alcorn and Shaun Davey . While Michael Ó
Súilleabháin 's recordings in this genre, such as The Dolphin's Way and
Flowing , have attained considerable success. However, without any
doubt, the most famous (or notorious, depending on your viewpoint) is
Bill Whelan , responsible for the Riverdance phenomenon and a huge
increase in the sale of dancing shoes.
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