The Open Letter

On reading on the 30th of May the feature on Philip King "Re-imaging Ireland" in the Irish Times Magazine was one of the rare moments when you feel as inspired as rattled. Philip is one of those who have the ear to the ground and is able to detect even subtle vibrations of what is happening under the surface of the island. He is able to listen in many directions and dimensions, to the past and the present to make us blend them hopefully for a better future. A strong sense of our cultural identity is essential for a recovery from our current economical and spiritual crisis, is Philips way of seeing it. If Philip has a point, so what does this means for all of us who are involved in Irish Folk and Irish traditional music? No matter if we are musicians, producers, record companies, agents, artist managers, promoters or media reflecting on this art form, we are the ones who are giving the nation an identity and making Ireland be recognised all over the world as a special brand. So here is my input in a form of an open letter to all of us to revisit what Philip calls "re-image Ireland".

An essential starting point is an analysis of the status quo. I'm amazed how silent we all are in these times which seriously demand raising our voices and make them heard. Looking back on our own history and the forming of the Irish state, weren't artists in the forefront of this political movement? Are we not in line with singers like Wodie Guthrie who gave his voice in support of trade unions and workers rights? Are we not in line with artists who supported the civil rights movement or the campaign against the war in Vietnam in the US? There were a lot of Irish artists out there at that time and the spirit of that movement electrified not only Ireland but also the rest of the World. In the seventies when I became as a teen exposed to the Folk scene and became a so called "folkie" I was proud to be a part of a movement which said no to nuclear power and also the cold war and the division of Europe. Weren't Irish Folk musicians the driving power behind the festival at Carnsore Point, the designated building site for Ireland's first nuclear power station? They created a strong sense in the society that this was not the way to go. Singers such as Christy Moore gave at that time their voice to the silenced hunger strikers or showed solidarity with the victims of the Stardust disaster and how poorly the Irish authorities dealt with their claims. No matter what political view you might take today whether it was right or wrong to support the hunger strikers, at least we could witness that artists felt the urge to get involved in the political life of the nation.

What does it tell about us as creative peoples when you do not get emotionally involved in times of crisis and make your voice heard in support of those who suffer and in challenge of those who are responsible for the mess? There is seriously something wrong out there these days but do I hear our voices - the voices of the so called bearers of the Irish traditional culture? We all were extremely busy the last couple of years meeting demand all over the world representing a nation seen as iconic, self aware and proud of it's unique identity. Some of us were able to make a living on it. Some of us at least managed to travel, make friends and see the world for free. While doing so and being all year round on a World tour many of us seem to have lost the purpose why they initially became part of the traditional music community. With the arrival of a new generation the reasons for being part of it changed. Some took to it as if it would be a career in any other profession. It became for many a job which will pay bills, but with a bonus of some "sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll" feeling and seeing the world for free. But it was definitively not a vocation even if the punters paying for our concerts and buying our albums surely projected it on us.

We have seen the world and some of us reflected on it. In a more and more global world Ireland is these days not an isolated nation in the middle of the Atlantic. We are getting more and more exposed to the rest of the World and its diversity of cultures, especially the musicians. Some of them reacted to this by bringing Irish Folk closer to World music family embracing other traditions such as Beoga, Kila or Flook just to name a few. But did the lyrics and the spirit behind the mission, why we are all out there, keep up with the evolution of our instrumental skills?

Songs like Luka Blooms 'No Matter Where You Go, There You Are" are extremely rare and needed. It tells how overwhelming our music can be to foreigners. In the refrain of his song Luka gives a Muslim who gets mesmerised by the sound of an Irish fiddle a sound encouragement.

"You must go, follow your star
No matter where you go, there you are
No matter where you go, there are you
So don’t let go of what you know to be true"

I think a great soul food for all who are part of the Irish Folk travelling circus who wonder late at night in a lonely hotel room what actually took them there? The foreign fans of Irish traditional music seem to have been more true to this philosophy than we who actually play it.

While some of us were musically pushing the horizons of our tradition forward and contributed in a great way to the sense of being part of a living tradition we didn't come up with the equivalent amount of songs dealing with our live in the Emerald Isle of today. Why? We didn't ask ourselves certain questions and we didn't reflect on them. We didn't verbalise our fears and hopes. Or did we have any at all being so busy making money? Did we dare to let the foreign punters flocking into our concerts know that there are serious deficits in our society and that we are not accepting that? While builders, bankers and their politicians were putting the traditions of this nation under threat and selling it out, did we as its representatives react to that? Or did we think why should we bother? Probably there was also bit of doubt that it would be bad for the business and for our careers. Many of us were rather competing to play in the tents of the political parties at the Galway races and pocket a fine cheque without telling the assembled criminals what the so called cultural elite of this nation thinks of them. Can we as a result of this actually regard ourselves as cultural elite?

Our fans abroad have a good sense what is happening in Ireland. They are well informed and many of them actually don't understand why there is no cultural elite which comments on the negative impact the Celtic Tiger on our lives, spirit and landscape. It would have filled their souls with hope that the Irish are actually not all behind that. It would have had a good effect how the nation comes across abroad.

I remember only one recent affair when the Irish music community came together and rallied for a good cause. It was for Tara and against the M3 motorway. By attending the protest of the Irish harpers in the front of Dail Eireann I had for the first time in ages the feeling why I'm proud to be part of this Irish music community. The spirit was apparent that those harpers were aware of their connection with the past and didn't want to lose it to a motorway rolling over one of the most sacred places of this nation. The heavy damage done to Tara and to how Ireland is now perceived all over the world as a result of that can't be repaired. But at least the harpers can be proud that they didn't let Tara down. Those who were there that day fully deserve to be identified with the harp as the Irish national symbol and play it even more proudly since.

But on the other hand there were surely some of us who performed background music at the banquettes of the builders behind the destruction of Tara, who bribed politicians and brought our economy to the edge of bankruptcy. In order to become critical elite we have to be critical with ourselves first. Is the reason why we became so quiet and tame because we feel deep inside that we actually do not have the authority to speak out. Didn't we got so complacent within the corrupt Irish system of builders, bankers, councillors and politicians? Aren't some of us the same kind of operators just on a smaller scale?

Just a few examples which are on the door step running one Ireland's last music shops for traditional music and Folk. I have encounters with album producers who want from me 11.- Euros cash in hand for a CD proudly displaying the logo of the Arts Council. In other words those producers pocketed a grant, which is based on the hard work and taxes paid by the people of Ireland, but have zero insight that they could give something back by writing an invoice to our shop. Or let's look on musicians playing seven nights a week in the pub and being at the same time on the dole.
The property bubble burst already a year ago. Prices went down and the spiral of recession and unemployment resulted from that. An economist might think that this would that reflect e.g. on the prices of Irish traditional music. Far away from that. The price of an Irish traditional music CD is so high that only well off people or an elite can afford buying it. The music by the people for the people is so expensive, that working class people or unemployed can't afford it. The tourist comparing CD the prices at home with them here are also more and more holding back. While Ireland became far too overpriced for them this led year by year to a decline of visitors to the West, South and North of the country where our cultural identity is supposed to be. But to a certain degree this is self inflicted. Do we as the tradition bearers bear respect to those who admire us for being that?

Is an Irish traditional music CD priced over 20 Euros actually promoting or hindering getting the message out there how special our culture is? Do we have respect for the visitors or do we look at them as walking purses? Do we pay the same attention to the quality of art work, recording and mastering as we pay it to the music? An album recorded in a bedroom with two mediocre microphones, being poorly mastered, the sleeve notes – if any – full of typos is not doing justice to our culture. It is as ugly as slapped up holidays homes which are 10 months of the year uninhabited empty shells. By the way the tourists are not stupid. Some of them are well able to ask the right and critical questions. They wonder why a locally produced CD is more expensive than a CD e.g. from Solas or Lunasa, where a serious budget was spent on making it, which was shipped across the Atlantic and import taxes into the EU were paid on? Having a traditional music shop in Co. Clare I didn't get too far trying to convince local musicians to supply our shop for prices which would enable us to sell their music not only to the rich but in higher qualities to a broad range of visitors. Also not confront the customers with the hard decision which CD they shall buy because they can afford only one. Wouldn’t it be better for all of us involved if they could afford to buy two or even three? And wouldn't our visitors feel welcome than fleeced? They would keep them returning than more and more staying away. It is actually simple logic but unfortunately not for all of us. Most musicians and producers do not understand that a traditional music shop is only the middleman between the producer and the customer. The producers of traditional music should not be closer to us than the consumers. We have to respect the consumer and as a consequence of that, certain local homespun and overpriced CDs are not part of our portfolio. As a result of that some musicians are not on the best terms with us thinking that we do not want to give them a fair price, but we have to weather it out.

Before we can pick up the inspiration by someone like Philip King we need to examine our own involvement in the society of greed and corruption. We should not go down the same route as politicians who set up norms and laws but get caught for not adhering to them. It is a fine mess we got ourselves into and is there a point carrying on? It can get only worse. It is time to change! Irish music and Folk are almost everywhere in the world in a decline. I believe that this is not only because of the poor economy but also because we lost our mission and we didn't realise that we are in competition with other strong traditions, which can deliver the same quality for a better price. It is high time to reflect and change. A recession was and is always a healing a clearing process not only for the economy but also for arts. It helps to get rid of those who just jumped on the band wagon but had no mission or passion; those ones who are rather part of a business than a movement.

This applies not only for the creative ones but also for those who are documenting and supporting what we do. The Arts Council, Culture Ireland and the media to name a few. Where are the critical journalists associated with our music? Where are the innovative questions drilling down to get more information out of us from whom we learnt a tune and what the name of it is? Where are the questions which would open our eyes that we can see ourselves in the reality of today? Where are the questions which would propel us to become better? What do you stand for, what is your mission, what makes you different? I'm getting increasingly tired of listening to certain RTE programmes and reading certain music papers. You hear some great music but you do not hear adequate comments which would rub shoulders with it. Our media are doing a good job documenting what we do and some of them have the passion to encouraging us to keep on playing and producing. But they do not seem to see their role as holding a critical mirror in front of us. We need this mirror in order to become better and keep up competing with other cultures, which are probably taking now the front seat, having a better set up behind them including media which are not being so cosy us ours. We need media which make us not only reflect on where we are coming from but also where we are going to. Media making us aware that we are not living in a sheltered bubble of a remote island. By discussing our political, economic and social state we would have on one hand the chance to be more Irish in the best sense of the word as well as being deeper imbedded in the global family of World music.

But so far our media are letting us down in bringing the best out of us. We need media who take on the role of a strict manager of a soccer team. He might love his players but will not hesitate in sending them into the torture room and make them sweat. The team will pay this back by being fit, resilient and securing some great victories. Our media have not established yet that the reason behind the shrinking share of our music in the global market might have something to do with some us not being as fit as we should be and having not the most up-to date strategy on the pitch.

Our political journalists revealing economic scandals, corruption and child abuse have done a good service for the nation. They do not seem to fear that this is a small nation and that they will sooner or later meet those ones they have challenged in person. Everybody knows everybody at least his friends or relatives. We are all here somehow related or connected. On one hand this is a great feeling of bonding and being close to many. On the other hand it paralyzed and damaged our society because we were afraid of raising our voices against our neighbours when we thought they were doing wrong. Do we support our political media in their struggle of controlling the politicians and the big players in the economy? Do we hear at present songs dealing with the banking crises or child abuse? Of course we can’t be all brilliant singer songwriters, but at least we could initiate charity concerts or festivals to help the victims. What about the struggle of some brave local people of Mayo against Shell and our politicians who sold out our oil and gas? The people in Mayo fight to a certain degree for all of us defending the resources of the nation but do we stand up for them? This would be the time and if we don't deliver we can hardly call ourselves Folk musicians in the true sense of the meaning. We are just about to implode because of the huge vacuum of a mission in our hearts.

The traditional and Folk music scene is a very close group within a very close society. Therefore we feel how difficult it is to be critical with ourselves and break the silence. We lost the culture to discuss within ourselves some delicate issues. We love drinking and bonding together late at night after concerts in pubs and hotel bars. But most of it is small talk. Very few of us have the courage to talk to their peers what our mission in this society is and if we live up to the challenge. All other trades work on best practice standards to secure the best possible quality of their performance and product. The best friends are those ones, who show you your deficits in a polite and helpful way. They help you to become better. I think that some of those who tried to be this way have been belittled, ridiculed or avoided. They now rather engage in small talk or become silent or have turned their back on our scene. They are a serious loss to us.

Where does this all leave us? The state of our society and our role in it as supposed intellectual and cultural elite is doubtful but not hopeless. Before crying wolf we need to revisit our own behaviour first. Let's restring our souls like an old instrument and play on it a new and courageous tune!

Doolin the 13th of June
Petr Pandula