One of the most extraordinary developments on the global music scene over the past two decades has been the explosion in the number of Irish artists with trad and folk backgrounds who are scoring heavily across virtually every continent simultaneously, of course, providing Ireland with a domestic music scene as vibrant as you ll find anywhere on the planet.
As little as thirty years ago such a scenario would have been almost inconceivable and had it been expressed it would have drawn guffaws galore. Sure, we knew that in pockets of Irish emigrant populations, especially in the USA, Britain and Australia, Irish music and culture thrived. The Clancy Brothers had made an impact in the US and The Dubliners in Britain and parts of Europe. But for the most part Irish folk didn t travel well.
The seeds of the folk revival were sown in the 60s and not just by ballad groups. Sean O Riada brought a new form of both grandeur and respectability to Irish roots music. And in places like Na Pmobairm Uileann the Pipers Club there was a renewed focus on the tunes themselves, and playing them with authenticity and flair. Meanwhile, a group called The Chieftains were embarking on the first steps of a journey that would ultimately make them globetrotters of international renown. But, at home, the barriers were still up between traditional music and rock n roll at least until an unprecedented new act appeared, almost literally, in a flash of light and smoke.
While Horslips, perhaps understandably, upset the hardcore traditionalists, they also taught the great unconverted what some fans at least hitherto would have thought impossible that you could have an ear for the music of one s own culture while also being a fan of Jimi Hendrix or Thin Lizzy, who themselves dipped a toe in the old pool with their rocked-up version of Whiskey In The Jar . In fact, educated musicologists were soon showing us that the links between apparently diverse artists were more significant than the factors that set them apart.
Then along came those blazing pathfinders, Planxty, the Bothy Band and Clannad, and before long all hell had broken loose with Moving Hearts, The Pogues, and sundry others tearing up the rule book and showing us that far from being a lonely orphan, Irish folk music had cousins all over the music world who could all bring their own little bit to the biggest party on earth. Bringing it all back home, indeed.
Meanwhile, international artists of the stature of the Rolling Stones, Art Garfunkel, Mike Oldfield, and, of course, our own Van The Man, either acknowledged a debt to Irish music or saw how it meshed with and could enhance their own artistic aspirations. Major international labels, those bastions of capitalism, also found that it was prudent to have an Irish trad/folk act or two on the books, as Virgin signed Altan and Michael O Suilleabhain, CBS picked up Christy Moore and Davy Spillane, and many more added compilations aimed at the world music or Celtic markets to their catalogues.
While a rock act like Sting singing in Irish with The Chieftains is now accepted as so perfectly natural that it hardly merits remarking upon, a whole new generation of acts, including Kila, Ainm, Sean Tyrell, Sean Keane, Martin Hayes, Danu and many others, are showing that not only is the tradition surviving but tht it can thrive and prosper in the future.
While acknowledging the talents of the artists, it is also essential to remind ourselves of those who support the music in other roles: the radio DJs like PJ Curtis and John Kelly who challenge, educate and stimulate their listeners, those record companies who put their money where their taste is and the venue owners and publicists who toil beyond the call of duty because the music is their passion. To all of them we owe a debt of thanks.
Now, is there anyone there who s got a tune for us?