Modern Music

Irish traditional music, at the beginning of the twentieth century, was generally played, sung, and danced in the domestic setting. Ireland still had a high proportion of Irish speakers, and singing was an important activity both to accompany work and as a form of entertainment. Musicians and dancers, apart from a few professional traveling musicians and dancing masters, were amateurs who played, sang, and danced for their own amusement at home or at house and crossroad dances in their locality. The better dancers gave solo dancing displays, but most took part in group dances, particularly set dances (dances that had developed in Ireland during the eighteenth century and which derived from the French dance, the quadrille). The transmission of music and song from one generation to the next was oral, and in rural Ireland regional repertoires and styles abounded. In many parts of the country Irish traditional music was the only music played and listened to.

The position of Irish traditional music by the end of the twentieth century, however, was very different. In common with Irish society, Irish music had undergone rapid changes and developments in the intervening years. The performance setting of the music had changed to the pub, concert hall, stadium, music festival, or radio/television studio. Instrumental music was most commonly played for listening to rather than for dancing. The prominence of singers and singing in the society waned, and Irish was no longer widely spoken. With increased prosperity, particularly in the latter part of the century, musical instruments were more easily purchased. Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, an organization for the promotion of Irish music, song, and dance, was formed in 1951. This and other organizations, such as Cáirde na Cruite (1960) and Na Píobairí Uilleann (1968), helped to rekindle interest in traditional music by providing lessons, and technical standards increased, particularly among young musicians.

The century also saw the rapid growth of céilí dancing and the céilí band as an instrumental grouping. Céilí dancing is a type of line or group dancing, which was introduced around the turn of the twentieth century and uses dances reconstructed or composed for the purpose. Music was provided by groups of musicians and these became known as céilí. U.S. céilí bands were influenced by the instrumental lineup of popular dance bands and adopted instruments such as drums and piano. This was copied at home in Ireland, and the céilí reached its pinnacle of popularity in the 1950s. In Ireland the Dance Hall Act of 1935 crushed the already dwindling house- and crossroad-dancing tradition by requiring a dance venue to be licensed, but a revival of set dancing spread countrywide in the 1980s and 1990s. Step dancing, incorporating both solo and group dancing, was widely taught by dancing masters particularly in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and differs from both set and céilí dancing. Irish step dancing was controlled by the Coimisiún le Rincí Gaelacha (Irish Dancing Commission), which organized dancing competitions known as feiseanna throughout Ireland and overseas.

Improved transport and communication, and the increased availability of radio, television, and recorded music, also helped to change the path of Irish music. Mass media often contributed to the popularization of Irish music as broadcasters such as Irish Radio, 2RN, which began in 1926, gave a high proportion of airtime to traditional music. The ready availability of traditional music meant that local styles faced competition from the music of other areas, even from the United States, and in many cases the local style ceased to exist. The 78 rpm recordings of Irish emigrant musicians in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s, such as Michael Coleman and James Morrison, had a wide-reaching effect on traditional playing in Ireland, with many Irish musicians copying the style and repertoire that they heard on the records.

In the 1960s the combination of voice and instruments was a new departure for the tradition. The vocal tradition in Irish music was heretofore unaccompanied and generally a solo art form. In New York the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem were influenced by the U.S. folk revival, and they combined instruments such as guitar and banjo with singing to form the first Irish ballad group. The Clancys and Makem became extremely popular in both the United States and Ireland and new ballad groups, including The Dubliners and The Wolfe Tones, sprang up at home. The ballad scene thrived during the 1960s with numerous groups throughout the country playing in lounge bars. The popularity of the ballad group diminished during the following decade.

The musical scene in Ireland increasingly encompassed different music genres. Irish traditional music was now a minority music rather than a majority one. Not only was there a diversity in the music available, but innovators of Irish traditional music began fusing Irish music with other genres, including classical, rock, folk, pop and various ethnic music. Seán Ó Riada, a classically trained musician and composer, was responsible for a new direction in Irish music in the 1950s and 1960s. He was the first person to introduce Irish music to the concert stage, and his compositions for orchestra, such as the music for the film Mise Éire, were hugely popular, bringing Irish music to a new, wider audience. Critical of the uniformity of the céilí-band sound, he developed a new type of traditional music group by forming the folk orchestra Ceoltóirí Cualann, which integrated solos, duets, trios, quartets, and an accompanied singer. Ó Riada helped to popularize the bodhrán and bones by using them to fill the percussive void left by the split between dancing and music. He used a harpsichord to recreate the sound of the Gaelic harp and also introduced countermelodies and harmonies in his arrangements. The Chieftains and Ceoltóirí Laighean developed from Ceoltóirí Cualann. In the 1970s another musician, Míchéal Ó Súilleabháin, combined Irish, classical, and jazz genres in his work for solo keyboard and in his compositions/arrangements for chamber orchestra, piano, and traditional instruments.

The era of the professional musician had arrived, with many bands and solo artists making a living from playing Irish music. Traditional music was popular not only in Ireland or with Irish emigrants abroad but also among non-Irish people. By the 1970s the trend of accompanied singing, together with the rise in instrumental playing and interest in Irish music produced groups such as Planxty, Horslips, De Danann, The Bothy Band, and Moving Hearts, who fused traditional music with rock, pop, or folk music. This involved the use of instruments such as keyboards, synthesizers, electric guitars, and ethnic instruments. Conflict between the purists and innovators caused controversy in the closing decades of the century. "Riverdance," "Lord of the Dance," and other stage shows belong to the 1990s, but their combination of dance and the portrayal of dance with modern costumes, theatrical effects, and staging effected a resurgence of interest in step dancing.

The twentieth century also marked a growth in the study of Irish music and in music literacy among practitioners. Early in the century, Captain Francis O'Neill published his volumes on Irish music in the United States. The Irish Folk Song Society operated in London from 1904 to the 1920s; its aim was the collection, publication, and study of Irish traditional music. In 1935 the Irish Folklore Commission was established to collect and preserve traditional culture. Beginning in the 1960s the study of Irish traditional music was a feature in third-level music courses. The Folk Music Society of Ireland was founded in 1971 and published some material and recordings during the final decades of the century. Breandán Breathnach published many collections of Irish music as well as a study of the music, Folk Music and Dances of Ireland (1971). Many and various publications ensued. Other projects included the establishment of the Irish Traditional Music Archive in 1987 as a reference archive and resource center for Irish traditional music.

SEE ALSO Arts: Early Modern Literature and the Arts from 1500 to 1800; Carolan, Turlough; Music: Early Modern Music; Music: Popular Music

Bibliography

Breathnach, Breandán. Folk Music and Dances of Ireland. 1971.

Carolan, Nicholas. "Acoustic and Electric: Traditional Music in the Twentieth Century." The Journal of Music in Ireland 1 (November/December 2000): 20–27.

O'Connor, Nuala. Bringing It All Back Home: The Influence of Irish Music. 1991.

Ó hAllmhuráin, Gearóid. A Pocket History of Irish Traditional Music. 1998.

Vallely, Fintan, ed. The Companion to Irish Traditional Music. 1999.

Colette Moloney