This document provides an overview of Irish folk music, including its origins in Ireland and evolution as Irish immigrants brought it to America. It discusses traditional Irish instruments, dances like the reel and jig, and ballads. It also covers how Irish folk music was later influenced by the American folk revival and punk movements. The summary concludes by noting how Irish folk traditions continue on in modern artists and have profoundly shaped American music over time.

1. Irish Folk Music Morgan N. Dixon MUS 1234 S. Abel 22 July 2011

2. Contents Irish Folk Music Irish Living The Famine Begins Early Immigrants of America American Living The Irish and Their Music in America The Basics Instrumentation More Instrumentation Traditional Tunes Traditional Irish Ballads Sean-Nós Traditional Dances The Reel The Jig The Golden Age With Oppression Comes the Rebels Rebels of Ireland Irish Rebel Music With Traditions Today Popular Irish Tunes Irish Punks Popular Punks of Our Time A Culture Through Time

3. Irish Living Throughout Ireland before the disaster of the Potato Famine, many native Irish subsisted on small landholdings and a diet of potatoes. Many of these individuals worked as laborers on British-owned farms. Young people who knew they could not hope to own land in Ireland, against the British, had long looked to America for better opportunities. From 1818 to 1845, at least 10,000 Irish immigrated yearly in hopes of fortune and plentiful opportunity.

4. The Famine Begins The leaves of the native potato plants began turning black and curled, and did not hold the same vegetation it once had. Soon enough the potatoes became black and withered leading to a great famine that washed over many areas of Ireland. It was all due to an airborne fungus (phytophthora infestans) originally transported in the holds of ships traveling from North America to England¹. Spread through the winds of Southern England, it began to kill every plant within its reaches. It was at this time that the realization of immigration to America came into fruition as reality.

5. Early Immigrants of America In the years of 1845-49, the Irish land was blighted by the Irish Potato Famine, forcing many to immigrate to American soil. To survive, two choices were to be selected from: starve or leave their home land. Out of the many, 1.5 million immigrated to America starving and diseased, landing in the East Coast ports of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Baltimore.

6. American Living Without the money and sources to travel inland for farming, many of the Irish immigrants were forced to stay within the cities that they landed upon. The living conditions to which they were subjected to were uncomfortable with crowded housing and in search for work at any wage possible. Due to the differences in religion and pastimes, the Irish created ethnic enclaves to which were new to many American cities. New York absorbed many of the immigrants, whereas Boston was overwhelmed by the numbers to which they traveled by. By 1850, a quarter of Boston’s population was Irish, most from the recent immigrations. Boston, the home of Puritanism and the center of American intellectualism, did not welcome illiterate Irish Catholic peasants². This in turn created subjectivity and the disenfranchisement of the Irish immigrants within the American society.

7. The Irish and Their Music in America Keeping Traditions While Moving Across Seas

8. The Basics Irish folk music were mainly based off traditional folk tunes. The music style became wildly popular within the cities that the Irish immigrated, New York and Chicago. Although it is believed much of American folk music derives from the Irish folk music, it is seen that Irish folk music is diverse in style and instrumentation. Much of the traditional Irish music was based for dancing, with a great tradition in ballad.

9. Instrumentation Many aspects of Irish folk music are closely related to dancing; however, without the instrumentation of the songs much of the dancing is not possible. These are some more common instruments: Fiddle : commonly referred to as the violin, the fiddle is the instrument used for folk music and bluegrass. Irish Harp : a small to medium-sized instrument, usually designed for traditional music, commonly having 34 strings. Accordion (concertina) : a portable wind instrument having a large bellows for forcing air through small metal reeds, a keyboard for the right hand, and buttons for sounding single bass notes or chords for the left hand³. Wooden Flute : an instrument of the woodwind family that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening. Guitar : often a six-stringed instrument that is plucked with the fingers.

10. More Instrumentation Then there are instruments that are less commonly known, but very popular within the Irish folk music culture: Bodhran : a handheld, shallow Irish drum with a single goatskin head, played with a stick⁴. Tin Whistle : also known as the penny whistle. Uillean Pipes : commonly known as the Irish bagpipes, producing a bellowing sound by squeezing bellows under the arm or in between the knees. Banjo : an instrument of the guitar family, having a circular body versus the violin-like shape of the guitar. Bouzouki : also known as a large mandolin, is a small, long-necked fretted lute.

11. Traditional Tunes Often times, Irish traditional music is mainly associated with jigs and reels, But the unusual seemed to find its way Into the traditional musical style : Jig (12/8 time) Double jig (6/8 time) Reel (4/4 time) Hornpipe (swung 4/4 time) Slip jig (9/8 time) The occasional Polka (2/4 time) Each tune was accompanied by a dance which was performed along with the Mazukas or Waltzes (3/4 time)⁵ music.

12. Traditional Irish Ballads “Finnegans Wake” is an example of traditional Irish street ballad that arose in the 1850’s by the musical group, The Dubliners. It is a comical piece that displays the traditional ballad style in Irish folk music. Many street ballads derive from tales of drinking, which hold strong through many years. This song is still played today in the popular Irish-American punk band, The Dropkick Murphys. This is a small portion of the song : Tim Finnegan lived in Walkin StreetA gentleman Irish, mighty odd; He’d a beautiful brogue so rich and sweetAnd to rise in the world he carried a hotd.Now Tim had a sort of the tipplin’ wayWith a love of the whiskey poor Tim was bornAnd to help him on with his work each dayHe’d a drop of the cray-thur every morn. Chorus Whack fol the dah O, dance to your partnerWelt the floor, your trotters shake.Wasn’t it the truth I told youLots of fun at Finnegan’s wake!

13. Sean-nós The translation of sean-nós, means in literal terms, “old style” in the Irish language. It is associated with a form of a cappella (solo) ballad singing, producing a sound that is traditional to Irish folk music. This is an example of a woman who is singing a traditional sean-nós song named “Eleanór a Rún”.

14. Traditional Dances Accompanied by many of the tunes, dancing was a portion of the music that was important to how the music was performed. Two of the main dances were named the reel and the jig.

15. The Reel A reel is a common folk dance that is associated with many traditional Irish tunes. A reel is in 4/4 time (also known as common meter), but when sheet music is written out, reels are occasionally written in 2/2 time instead (also known as cut time, which simply emphasizes the beats in a different way and can emphasize liveliness). The accented beats in a reel are beats 1 and 3, and phrases are generally (but not always) repeated in eight-bar increments⁶. An example of a traditional Irish reel music demonstrated by Matt Molly.

17. Slip Jigs

18. Single Jigs

19. Treble JigsAn example of a slip jig, performed by Celine Hession & Donncha O Muimhneacháin in 1972 accompanied by a traditional tune.

20. The Golden Age After immigration of the Irish people to America, the music that was originally disenfranchised became wildly popular within the years of the 1890’s. From there in out, traditional Irish folk music created the “Golden Age” in which centered around the settled city of New York. It was at this point in time that many inspiring musicians of the fiddle were found. However, with the hit of the Great Depression came the downfall of much of the traditional Irish folk music that was produced, and belittled by the production of the show band culture during the World War. It wasn’t until the late 20th century that the rise of Celtic rock groups rose into culmination. It was the rise of many groups such as Flogging Molly and the Shillaly Brothers that kept traditional Irish culture within their music.

21. With Oppresion Comes the Rebels Those Who Rebelled for Irish Republicanism

22. Rebels of Ireland Although the rebellion associated with the rebel songs that were produced by the Irish are mainly in part due to the oppression that was held by the English, the rebel songs were played for years afterwards. When the Irish people had been conquered by the English, they were oppressed and even suffered in the aspect that they were unable to speak their own language. Therefore, the people of Ireland turned to rebel music to withhold the traditions within their heritage and history.

23. Irish Rebel Music The beginnings of Irish rebel music stem from many years of oppression with the need to withhold a deep sense of tradition. This subgenre of Irish folk music is predominately the same through instrumentation, but is quite different linguistically. The lyrics that are associated hold deep meanings about Irish republicanism. Those who were disregarded by the British Empire, and even today hold strong with Irish rebel music which is still being played to this day. An example of rebellistic lyrics is the song “Roddy McCorley” by The Dubliners.

24. With Traditions Today How Traditional Irish Folk Music Still Lives on Presently

25. Popular Irish Tunes Although Irish folk music sounds of the past, the traditions that have held strong are still present in many artists today. In the latter years of the 20th century, it has been shown that producing popular music is simply equal to others producing modern music. Many groups have found success in the combination of traditional ideas and modern ones to produce a new wave of Irish music. The Cranberries found great musical success with the combination of new age and traditional Irish music in America.

26. Irish Punks The punk movement in the 1970’s did not only influence those within America, but did as well for Irish and Irish-Americans. Of the time, Stiff Little Fingers as well as The Undertones were greatly influenced by the movement in Northern Ireland. The Pogues were also a part of the movement, by making traditional songs fit into the punk genre. Stiff Little Fingers photograph for Nobody’s Heroes

27. Popular Punks of our Time Flogging Molly is a seven-piece Irish band that originated in Los Angeles, California. They are deeply influenced by many Irish punk bands before them, such as, The Dubliners (as seen before) and The Pogues. Many of their songs can be seen as traditional ballads, those that tell stories of subjects related to Ireland and its history. They also follow traditional Irish ballads by singing of love, drinking (street ballads), politics, and even death. “Drunken Lullabies” was released on March 19, 2002. It is representation of a faster tempo based upon a traditional street ballad.

28. A Culture Through Time The difficulties of immigration from one country to another, brought about by the Great Famine, and the disenfranchisement of the people to which came, harvested the presence of a culture and its music. This in turn has greatly influenced American society. The instruments used, the dances that were performed, and the tunes that were sung all were in part of a culture that moved to America through a tragedy. Much of the music that is popular today would not be in part without the traditional music that was played many years ago.

29. Works Cited "Accordion | Define Accordion at Dictionary.com." Dictionary.com | Find the Meanings and Definitions of Words at Dictionary.com. 2009. Web. 15 July 2011. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/accordion?o=100074>. "Bodhran | Define Bodhran at Dictionary.com." Dictionary.com | Find the Meanings and Definitions of Words at Dictionary.com. 2009. Web. 15 July 2011. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bodhran?o=100074>. Faragher, John Mack. "Irish Immigration." Out of Many: A History of the American People. Vol. 1. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall/Pearson, 2012. 339-40. Print. Favors, LaTasha. "The History of Traditional Irish Music, Page 2 of 2." Associated Content from Yahoo! - Associatedcontent.com. Web. 16 July 2011. <http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1964250/the_history_of_traditional_irish_music_pg2.html?cat=33>. "Irish Music 101 - What Is Traditional Irish Music." World Music - Information, History, and Reviews of World Music. Web. 20 July 2011. <http://worldmusic.about.com/od/learningmusic/p/IrishMusic.htm>.

30. Work Cited Cont. "Irish Music." Biography.com. A&E Television Networks, 2011. Web. 17 July 2011. <http://www.biography.com/st-patrick/irish-music.jsp>. "Irish Potato Famine: The Blight Begins." The History Place. The History Place, 2000. Web. 15 July 2011. <http://www.historyplace.com/worldhistory/famine/begins.htm>. "Reel - What Is an Irish Music Reel - What Is the Time Signature of a Reel." World Music - Information, History, and Reviews of World Music. Web. 15 July 2011. <http://worldmusic.about.com/od/irishmusicglossary/g/Reel.htm>.