Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [35]
Since the 1970s, various bands have tried to blend traditional with more progressive genres, with mixed success. The first band to pull it off was Moving Hearts, led by Christy Moore, who went on to become the greatest Irish folk musician ever (see the boxed text, Click here).
While traditional music continues to be popular in its own right both in Ireland and abroad, it also continues to provide the base for successful new genres. Think of ambient music with a slightly mystical tinge and invariably Enya will come to mind. As for the stars of tomorrow, the line-up has yet to be finalised, but it will surely include a young piper from Dublin called Sean McKeown and his sometimes playing partner, the fiddler Liam O’Connor.
Click here for details on when traditional music festivals are held.
POPULAR MUSIC
From the bland but supremely fashionable showbands of the 1960s, popular music took off towards the end of the decade with Van Morrison, whose blues-infused genius really put Irish music on the map. The 1970s were dominated by rock and punk: Thin Lizzy, Celtic rockers Horslips and punk poppers the Undertones were very popular, as were Belfast’s own Stiff Little Fingers (SLF), Ireland’s answer to the Clash and as good a punk band as there ever was, and the Boomtown Rats, fronted by Bob Geldof.
And then a supernova was born in North Dublin. The world and her sister have an opinion about U2 and, especially, their shy, un-opinionated lead singer Bono, but there’s no denying that the band are without question Ireland’s most important musical export and a rival to the likes of the Rolling Stones for megastardom and longevity. If we had to pick just one album, it would be the simply magnificent Joshua Tree (1987), although Achtung Baby (1991) is quite something, too. Their musical output of late has dipped, as inevitably it would with a band whose members are comfortably middle-aged: their last album, No Line on the Horizon (2009), was released to very mixed reviews.
Of all the Irish acts that followed in U2’s wake during the 1980s and early 1990s, a few managed to comfortably avoid being tarred with ‘the next U2’ burden. The Pogues’ mix of punk and Irish folk kept everyone going for a while, but the real story there was the empathetic songwriting of Shane McGowan, whose genius has been overshadowed by his chronic drinking – but he still managed to pen Ireland’s favourite song, ‘A Fairytale of New York’, sung with emotional fervour by just about everyone around Christmas time. Sinead O’Connor thrived by acting like a U2 antidote – whatever they were into she was not – and by having a damn fine voice; the raw emotion on The Lion and the Cobra (1987) makes it a great offering. And then there was My Bloody Valentine, the pioneers of late 1980s guitar-distorted shoegazer rock: Loveless (1991) is one of the best Irish albums of all time.
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The 1990s were largely dominated by DJs, dance music and a whole new spin on an old notion, the boy band. Behind Ireland’s most successful groups (Boyzone and Westlife) is the Svengali of Saccharine, impresario Louie Walsh, whose musical sensibilities seem mired in ’60s showband schmaltz. Commercially megasuccessful, but utterly without musical merit, the boy band (and girl band) phenomenon was a compelling reminder that in the world of pop, millions of people can be wrong.
The Irish love their sensitive souls, and there’s no shortage of the feelings-out-front singer-songwriter. The established crop include Paddy Casey, Damien Rice and the excellent Fionn Regan (his single ‘Be Good or Be Gone’ was a big hit and featured on Grey’s Anatomy), while Belfast-born Duke Special followed up on the success of Songs from the Deep Forest (2007) with two albums in quick