 |
 |
Irish Music
The vivid and long relation between Ireland and music was established the moment the Dagda brought his harp to this island. Such a strong relation is common in cultures with an oral tradition because it is much easier to memorise stories when poeticised and supported by rhythm. The druids would have recital their centuries old legends while beating the cadence with a stick on the floor or swaying their bodies. The bards, as bearers of the news, had a more creative job. After an event they had to create a story, memorise it and eventually pass it on to others. Considering the fast penetration of the Gospels to every corner of Ireland this appeared to have been a good strategy in both the pre-Christian era and the Christian era.
As a matter of fact the strategy was so excellent it is still in use today. Irish folk-singers, sorry traditional-music-performers, are doing the same thing, except creating the story which is nowadays the job of the song-writer (although many singers still write their own songs). Nevertheless many songs in their repertoire are stories of real events or at least stories of what could have been. Probably just like the bards the modern performers tend to romanticising, and sometimes even fantasising, after all they are artists, but they keep alive the history of the Ireland and give the audience a sense for the past.
Of course there are also songs not dealing with politics. There are plenty of songs singing the praises of Ireland, or a girlfriend.
A special kind are the humoristic songs. Some of them point a moral, such as the Unicorn Song, while others, like The Barleycorn for example, are completely surreal.
In the lyric chapter you will find a collection of lyrics. Several of them are accompanied by a short description of the subject and appropriate links to the history section of our website are provided.
Initially the lyric chapter was our whole website. Well, as you may have noticed things got a bit out of control.
Do not hesitate to email us if you know the context of a song or if you can provide us other useful information.
Music can also act as a powerful weapon. So powerful that not only particular songs were forbidden for a while, The Fenians' Escape for example, but once also harpers were persecuted and their instruments burnt. Apparently some instruments have a worthwhile history.
There is a chapter about typical Irish traditional instruments, but we are no musicians so do not expect a lot of this.
It is our intention to add a small chapter dedicated to Irish traditional musicians, but preparations have not really started yet so this can take a while.