Northern Uproar

I have a brief trip to Canada on the horizon so I’ve been thinking quite a bit about that country’s ability to punch well above its weight in the music world. From the days of country singer Hank Snow in the late ’40s through to bands like Broken Social Scene and singers such as Amy Millan Canadians have always had an ability to look beyond their own borders and get their acts out into the world. Of course you have to forgive them Bryan Adams but when you think that the other side of the coin includes Leonard Cohen, Neil Young and – like her or loath her – Joni Mitchell, it begins to make sense for us in Ireland to give some serious thought into how they manage it.

Like ourselves they don’t have a huge population – just 33 million – and they are spread considerably more thinly on the ground than we are. So the idea that you can tour incessantly to build up a strong domestic following isn’t something that would naturally spring to mind to them. What the Canadians have brought to bear in all this, though, is a very real awareness of the talent in their midst and a commitment, even at government level, to foster that talent. While the bulk of broadcasters here (there are the good guys too and we all know they are) regard homegrown talent with a mixture of incomprehension and disdain until such time as it has proven itself overseas, the Canadian broadcasting industry not only plays homegrown artists but has, since the mid 1980s, co-funded the Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent on Record, which also receives governmental funding.
Currently the kitty stands at about 14 million Canadian dollars per annum, which is used to fund demos and final recordings as well as domestic and international touring. I know the sceptics will say it’s all money down the toilet but I think Arcade Fire (those of them who weren’t born in Texas), Martha and Rufus Wainwright, Stars et al would argue with that.
What we do have on offer here is the often overlooked work undertaken by Music Network on the one hand and FMC on the other. While FMC are well known amongst musicians for administering the Music From Ireland funds, Music Network labour mainly on the less glamorous domestic front by offering hothouse support to bands, although due to the limitations of their funding, it can only be a tiny minority of the acts out there.
The latest beneficiaries of their efforts are the Donegal trio Fidil, whose debut release 3 is backed by the Musicwide scheme. Music Network directs its efforts at those areas of music which are perceived as non-commercial: classical, jazz and traditional. Of course, that’s great for those lucky enough to fall into those areas. On the other hand, in these days of evaporating audiences and failed consumer confidence there is a desperate need for this type of focus to be brought to bear in all areas of music.
The centre of Dublin saw the light and the life sucked musically. And although there are isolated pockets of trad left – one thinks of The Cobblestone in Smithfield and The Pipers’ Club in Henrietta Street – the continuity by which folk music is passed down has been lost.
Thank goodness, then, that the most “untraditional” of entities, Temple Bar Properties, has undertake to rectify this problem and to foster a sense that there is a spiritual home for traditional music in the city centre.
Each winter Temple Bar has come alive with a series of festival concerts and a rich line up of musical performances, workshops, high quality street theatre, family events and much more in a celebration of traditional Irish music and culture.
Last year’s festival featured such luminaries, as Kevin, Seamus and Paddy Glackin, Solas, Moya Brennan, Paddy Keenan, The Tulla Ceili Band and a slew of other artists. The Temple Bar TradFest 2010 will run from 27-31 January. Now in its fifth year, the festival hopes to build on its previous successes and as part of the exciting programme of events taking place at the 2010 festival, IMRO, that other great supporter of Irish music, will host a series of traditional music showcases and master classes in the New Theatre, Temple Bar. Any traditional musician wishing to be considered for a place should contact Keith Johnson at IMRO before Friday November 20.
We’re forever listing our favourite albums, films or what have you. And, with the end of the decade night, we’re going to be seeing a lot more ‘best ofs’. Honestly, what’s the point? Should we condense everything into a league table of democratic excellence? Should we really be agreeing with each other about this class of thing? Traditional music thankfully has an inbuilt defence mechanism keeping it safe from the stratification and categorisation that dogs many forms of music. Many traditional musicians see the recording as nothing more than a snapshot of a moment in time, a memento of a particular performance but not a holy grail to be put on an altar. There is, I’ll grant you, a certain breed of folk musician who’ll craft an album track to the brink of taxidermy, but, like the taxidermist, their stock in trade is dead things and such records lack the briny whiff of life that makes a good folk (or trad for that matter) album such a joyous experience. The odd mistake in the throes of passion never hurt anyone and it’s those fragrant errors that put a quickening in your blood.