The Year of Gigging Dangerously

In many ways, 2009 was a quiet year for Irish music. While Jedward amaze and terrify in equal measure and The Script fly the flag for Irish music internationally, most musicians seem to be happier to keep their heads down until the worst has passed. The news at the beginning of the year that Road Records in Dublin was to close put the fear of God into the heart of every self-respecting independent musician in the country. There was a rally around that has seen Dave and Julie continue to keep the doors of the Fade Street haven open. But the winds of change were blowing hard...

Elsewhere, venues that had been overflowing with punters a few years ago are finding the going increasingly tough. Dundalk’s Spirit Store didn’t so much celebrate its tenth birthday as breeze past it with a palpable sigh of relief. I can’t remember a year so stark. I was in Canada recently and, of course, people ask about emerging bands in Ireland. Well, the bleak reality is that no-one in the folk arena is ‘making it’ here.
The big boys are suffering too. What should have been one of the major occasions of the year, a trio of dates by Ry Cooder and Nick Lowe, both hugely respected roots and alt. country figures, was scaled back as audiences stayed away in droves – mind you, the very high ticket prices can’t have helped.
Trad has been hurting. Several months ago Flook, one of the most original voices in traditional music announced that, like Monty Python’s parrot, they were no more. There was no way they could keep making music given that the touring circuit which sustained them had withered on the vine. Admittedly, they popped up for an appearance at the Tall Ships festival in Belfast, but the recent emergence of a new group centred around Brian Finnegan suggests it will take something major to bring them back. For Flook’s sake!
Elsewhere, major bands on the trad scene held a steadier course while taking as few risks as possible. Kíla released the soundtrack to the animated film The Secret Of Kells, which showcased the talents of collaborator Bruno Coulais as much as their own.
Lúnasa released an album’s worth of material in the course of making The Leitrim Equation, a collaboration with the best-known players in the North Western county (partly funded by the County Council’s arts office). Dervish kept on touring, with flute player Liam Kelly also taking the opportunity to release a solo album on the Clo Iar-Chonnacta imprint.
In spite of the prevailing doom and gloom, a few brave souls took the plunge and released albums, some of them actually very good. Clive Barnes brought out The Ghost Country; Miss Paula Flynn released her self-titled solo debut, in which I had a personal involvement; Kieran Goss released I’ll Be Seeing You, his most direct collection to date; Liam Kelly, as I’ve already mentioned, released Sweetwood; Jinx Lennon unleashed not just Trauma Times Idiot Themes but also the Magic, Rawness and Rage Live DVD; Noelie McDonnell put out Come Alive; Ger Wolfe brought out No Bird Sang; and Christy Moore released a wonderful record in the calmly introspective Listen – the Hot Press Folk Album of the Year. Worryingly, all of the above, with the exception of Christy’s offering, were met with total indifference on the nation’s airwaves.
The almost total absence of radio support south of the border is shameful. Only tiny islands of ‘specialist’ programming exist to promote independent music across all the genres, a stark contrast to the situation in the North where Radio Ulster, free from any commercial or advertising restraints, feels free to play and cheerlead music from, and for, its own community. Something should be done about it. It really should.