Traditional music
Buoyed by a lively scene and attracting an ever-growing audience worldwide, you'd almost forget that traditional Irish music is some 2,000 years old, dating back to the arrival of the Celts in Ireland. Settling in Eastern Europe as early as the5th century BC, the Celts were undoubtedly influenced by Eastern music. As they made their way to their chosen land, the Celts left their mark on the musical cultures of Spain and Brittany, as well as Wales and Scotland. It was in Ireland, however, that the tradition was best articulated, reached its apogee and survived the vicissitudes of history. The harp dominated Irish music until the 17th century. Penal laws enacted by the English then prohibited any form of manifestation of Irish culture, including music. Musicians continued to play, of course, but in a clandestine, more intimate way. A character that traditional Irish music has retained to this day.
In 1845, the Great Famine claimed the lives of a million people, and drove many more to emigrate until the end of the 19th century. There's no doubt that a large part of the tradition - songs, stories and tunes - disappeared at this time. However, as thousands of Irish left the country, they took their traditional instruments and tunes with them, and a network of musicians took root in cities such as New York, Boston and Chicago, now known for their sizeable Irish communities. In the 1920s, Irish fiddle players such as Michael Coleman, James Morrisson and Paddy Killoran began making recordings. These records had an immediate effect on Irish musicians back home: not only did the piano accompany the fiddle and pipe, but the rhythm was faster. These two innovations brought about a welcome change. Until the 1960s, Irish music was played mainly in pubs, and exclusively in rural areas. It was dance music. In the early 1960s, the efforts of Irish music expert and promoter Sean O'Riada made a major contribution to the field. Following the creation of the legendary Ceoltori Chualann orchestra, he set himself the goal of inventing new music based on tradition. The orchestra consisted of fiddle, flute, pipe, accordion and bodhran (Gaelic drum). The novelty consisted not only in playing solo within the group, but also in composing pieces intended to be listened to and not just danced to. The Ceoltoiri Chualann's first concert was not held in a public venue or ballroom, but at the National Concert Hall, a classical music venue. It was this group's pioneering work that set off a wave of revival, giving rise to such legends as The Chieftains - some of whose members were also Ceoltori Chualann members - the first group to perform abroad. These pioneers, now pillars, were to have a decisive influence on a whole generation of groups in the 1970s, such as Planxty, or, later, The Bothy Band, a seminal orchestra whose complex arrangements, studio productions and stage enthusiasm have been the mainstay of the current success of Irish music.
In addition to The Chieftains (who continue to perform), Mary Black is one of the most important musicians on the scene. After a career spanning over 40 years, this major Irish artist remains famous for her crystal-clear voice and her great interpretations of traditional music. The Dubliners are another of Ireland's leading traditional music groups. More recently, the young group Téada has won over audiences and critics alike with the authenticity of its repertoire and interpretations. These are important groups whose music is also based on the use of typical Irish instruments. In addition to the aforementioned bodhran and fiddle, it's common to hear in their compositions the thin whistle, the six-hole brass flute and national instrument, or the villean pipe, the Irish bagpipe, quite different from its Scottish little sister. The harp is also a popular instrument in the country. Derived from the 19th-century Irish harp, this modern harp is relatively large, comparable to the concert harp, and its strings are plucked with the fingertips. Two highly commendable Irish harpists are Máire Ní Chathasaigh and Moya Brennan.
Traditional music is so important in Ireland that you never have to go far to hear it. Every town and village has one or more pubs renowned for their live music. It's in Dublin, of course, that you'll find the greatest concentration of quality addresses, starting with The Auld Dubliner, the city's institution. It's a particularly welcoming place, especially at the end of the day when the live music is in full swing. Another icon, The Temple Bar, with its bright red and black façade, is one of the city's epinal images. Inside, the atmosphere is guaranteed in this authentic raw-wood venue, where traditional music starts at 5pm. Almost as famous, O'Donoghue's is the legendary venue where The Dubliners formed. The atmosphere and the good concerts are always there all week long. A long way from Temple Bar, on the North Bank, you'll find The Celt, a pub in its prime with good Irish music every night. Nearby is The Cobblestone, a fine venue regularly inviting talented musicians from all over Ireland. Outside the capital, in Kilkenny, we should mention the local institution, John Cleere, where many musicians perform.
The country also offers a number of quality events, such as Fleadh Cheoil, one of the most important festivals of Celtic music and culture, held at the end of August in a different town each year, or Tradfest, a famous festival offering over 200 free shows. In the same spirit, at the end of May, Ennis hosts Fleadh Nua, one of the country's biggest traditional music festivals.
Popular music
Beating almost as hard and fast as its English neighbor, the country's popular music has produced many names that have gone down in history. Starting with U2, of course, the embodiment of Irish pop, which the world either loves or hates (or even adores/hates), and which has managed to sell over 200 million albums in the course of its career. U2 is the face of Irish pop, but it goes without saying that Irish popular music didn't wait for Bono's band to make its mark on the international scene. As early as the 1960s, the country saw the emergence of important figures such as Van Morrison (born George Ivan Morrison), who debuted in 1965 with the rock band Them (author of the famous Gloria) and traversed a plethora of styles during his career. Shortly before the explosion of punk, it was the rock band Thin Lizzy that became a hit (especially in the USA). But it was really during the 1990s that Ireland attracted massive attention. Names like The Corrs, four siblings who became hugely popular abroad thanks to their blend of traditional Irish and pop-rock, The Cranberries, who were one of the country's biggest hits with Zombie, a song openly about the war, and Sinead O'Connor, a very strong personality, as famous for her hits like Nothing Compare 2 U as for her immense outbursts. This was also the period when Enya exploded onto the international scene, with its new age/Celtic fusion.
Classical music
Ireland has not left as many eminent composers to posterity as its English neighbor, but it is worth taking a look at a few names. In the 18th century, Philip Cogan (1750-1833), who composed some fine sonatas, and John Andrew Stevenson (1761-1833), composer of operas, sonatas, concertos and symphonies, best known for his collaborations (piano accompaniments) with Irish poet Thomas Moore (1779-1852). At the beginning of the 19th century, a number of Irishmen triumphed in the English-speaking musical world, including tenor Michael Kelly (1762-1826), also composer of some sixty works (operas, ballets, cantatas, etc.), Thomas Simpson Cooke (1782-1848), also an influential singer and composer in the operatic world of the time, and Michael W. Balfe (1808-1870), baritone and composer best known for his opera La Bohémienne. A little later in the century, William Vincent Wallace (1812-1865) enjoyed international success as both a piano and violin virtuoso. At the same time, John Field (1782-1837) is said to be the creator of the nocturne. Later, the 200-odd works of Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924), including seven symphonies, and the late romanticism of Hamilton Harty (1879-1941) left their mark on the country's music.
In contemporary music, Ireland has made its mark through the work of Gerard Victory (1921-1995), who experimented with tonal, serial and electroacoustic music, John Kinsella (b. 1932), considered one of the most important symphonists since Stanford, and Seóirse Bodley (b. 1933), somewhere between contemporary and Irish tradition. More recently, works by Frank Corcoran (b. 1944) and Gerald Barry (b. 1952) have dominated Irish creation.
As for performers, Catherine Hayes (1818-1861) was an internationally renowned soprano, tenor John McCormack (1884-1945) was the most famous of his time, renowned for his breath control, and more recently, concert flautist Sir James Galway was one of the great soloists of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (Karajan era). Pianist Barry Douglas, winner of the gold medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1986, is also an outstanding interpreter of Beethoven, Brahms and Rachmaninov.
The country boasts several symphony ensembles, the two main ones being the National Symphony Orchestra, the orchestra of the National Concert Hall (a superb building) and a major player in Irish contemporary music, and the RTE Concert Orchestra, a radio orchestra covering a repertoire ranging from Baroque to contemporary. On the conducting front, the country has produced an eminent conductor, Eímear Noone, best known for her musical work on video blockbusters(World of Warcraft, Legend of Zelda).
Current music
If the Irish scene - mainly from Dublin - is so dynamic today, it's perhaps because it once boasted some major players such as My Bloody Valentine, the pioneers of shoegaze - a genre of hazy, slow, soaring rock - who have become cult favorites. They and local Brit-pop stars of the 1990s such as The Divine Comedy and Roisin Murphy - singer of electro-pop band Moloko, now adored solo - were the first sparks of today's booming scene. Today's bands to keep an eye on include Fontaines D.C. and their raw post-punk, Maria Somerville and her dream pop with an Irish landscape, and a fine rap scene riddled with champions like Rejjie Snow, Kojaque, Biig Piig and Denise Chaila.
As a true capital, Dublin boasts a number of fine venues where you can get up close to the cream of young Irish creation, starting with Sin É, with its underground atmosphere, The Grand Social, well known to local youth and offering three rooms dedicated to music, or 4 DAME LANE, a hip two-storey disco bar that programs some great DJs.
The dance
At least as emblematic as traditional music, Irish dance is an intangible element of the country's identity. One of the best-known is called stepdance, popularized by world-famous shows such as Riverdance. Characterized by the rigidity of the dancers' upper bodies and their intricate footwork to the fast tempo of the music, stepdance is one of the most widely practiced dances in the country, as well as in the Irish diaspora. The sean-nós is another remarkable dance in terms of footwork, and is distinguished by its freer nature, offering more scope for arm movements. In a similar vein to its predecessors, set dancing is performed in series of dances(sets), based on French quadrilles adapted to Irish music, and incorporating sean-nós steps.
Ceili dances are also very widespread, and are grouped together in a repertoire of dances for couples or groups, with generally simple footwork and a greater emphasis on figures and dancer formations.
Other Irish dances include the jigue, a lively solo dance characterized by rapid, alternating heel and toe tapping; the reels, an energetic dance featuring multiple jumps and organized in lines of dancers performing steps one after the other; and the hornpipe, which incorporates a number of jigue and reel steps. Irish dances are often classified according to the shoes used to perform them: soft ones, called ghillies, and stiff ones, similar to tap shoes.
There are many dance competitions in the country, notably during traditional festivals such as Fleadh Cheoil, the great festival of Celtic culture. Alternatively, there are a number of year-round venues, such as Tralee's Siamsa Tire Theatre, the national venue for high-quality Gaelic folk dancing and singing.
Theater
It's impossible not to say a word about Irish theater, so many great minds have been born here. There are geniuses (let's not mince words) like Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), the Dublin dandy who "put all his genius into his life, but only his talent into his works" (to paraphrase him) and Samuel Beckett, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969, who wrote some of the most important plays of the last century, such as Waiting for Godot. And let's not forget another Nobel Prize winner (1925), George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), a great avant-garde playwright, and William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), whose work was marked by the struggle for Irish independence. An emblematic figure in Dublin, he founded theAbbey Theatre, a venue that is always open, dynamic and well programmed. Bilingual theater lovers will love seeing a play here. There's also the Gate Theatre, with its high-quality contemporary repertoire. Dublin also offers two interesting events: the Dublin Theatre Festival, Europe's oldest theater festival, and the Dublin Fringe Festival, with its emphasis on comedy.
