Will Walsh 06 May 2011 HIST 498 Mitchell

Ireland: Music and Nationalism Introduction Ireland has a long history of both political conflict and folk music. Attempts to understand the Irish experience through the study of this music reveals a tradition of nationalism. As an aesthetic form of artistic expression, music cannot be the sole cause of nationalism. However, history has shown the significance music can hold for many nationalistic movements. Music creates a sense of national or ethnic identity that is hard to replicate through the use of any other medium. In the United States of America, we are taught to say the pledge of allegiance before school. We sing the American national anthem at sporting events and before several sorts of public displays. We say our pledges and sing our songs and it makes us feel American. Music is one of many symbols of Ireland and Irishness that has maintained its significance to this day. For people of Irish decent living all over the world, exposure to this Irish folk music from a very early age lends to the creation of a sense of Irish ethnicity. A very important component of Irish music throughout the past several centuries has been the notion of political music. Music, specifically political music, has been utilized for generations of Irishmen and Irishwomen. Studying the creation of Irish music, the study of Irish music, and the societal implications of Irish music reveals the very powerful relationship Irish music has had with Irish nationalism. Part I: Irish History Without an adequate understanding of the complexities and controversies that have characterized Irish history, it is impossible to understand the progressive growth of Irish nationalism and its implications for the people of society of the island of Ireland. Although the major political events that led towards the independence of the Republic of Ireland occurred during the nineteenth century, it is important to note that Irish nationalism has roots in the

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centuries leading up to political independence. Irish nationalism is closely linked to the sense of Irish ethnicity. Following the line of logic adhered to by Irish nationalists, the Republic of Ireland, which was created in the twentieth century, might be called a nation-state. The Irish people are a nation, and the Republic of Ireland is their state and a means for self-governance. The relationship between the Irish people and their English colonizers has culminated in violence that still shudders throughout parts of the island. Comprehending the events of the last several hundred years that have led to the development of Irish nationalism yields an explanation of Irish music and Irish nationalism. Prior to early Anglo-Norman attempts at colonization, the island of Ireland was defined by its Gaelic Celtic culture and history. Centuries of different migrations and invasions from groups like the Vikings make it impossible to define the modern population of Ireland as truly and purely Irish. Calling a collection of people who may draw a genetic history from different groups of centuries of settlers and invaders by a single term may be nave and unethical. However, to the Irish nationalists, it is necessary to take a snap shot of Ireland prior to British invasion and influence. This Gaelic Ireland and the Gaelic Irish became the definition of Irish people to the Irish nationalists. Unlike the island of Great Britain, the Roman Empire never stretched into Ireland. By the time of the Anglo-Norman invasions, the people of Great Britain were a heterogeneous blend of people descended from Britons, Angles, Saxons, Danes, Norwegians, and all the other groups that settled the island. William the Conqueror became the first Norman king of England in 1066 and created Norman England. The people of England then became Anglo-Normans or Anglo-Saxons. Beginning in the twelfth century, these Anglo-Normans from England began to settle and colonize the people of Ireland. They ruled isolated populations of Irish Gaels. For the most part,

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there was very little complete Anglo-Norman government of Ireland. The Anglo-Norman government in Ireland established the 1366 Statutes of Kilkenny, which outlawed Irish (Gaelic) laws, customs, and language and outlawed any intermarriage between the Irish and the AngloNormans. The Irish did not have a sense of identifying themselves as ethnically Irish. Instead, they were already beginning to define themselves against the other who was suppressing their ways of life. The Statutes of Kilkenny mark a very important date in Irish nationalist development. This is the first significant piece of English law that defines Irish and suppresses the expression of culture for a specific people. The situation would evolve into a more complex and involving relationship, but it is important to remember that English settlers have been involved in the affairs of the Irish since the twelfth century. The English control over the Irish continued to develop for the next couple centuries. There was a series of violent rebellions against this oppressive government in the seventeenth century that led to the introduction of Oliver Cromwell and his particular style of brutal repression. Estimates of the proportion of people on the island of Ireland that died during Cromwells conquest range from about forty percent1 to about eighty percent.2 A loss of this outstanding amount of the native population is remarkable from any modern observation. The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland was deliberately and specifically targeted at killing Catholic people. However, the acts of near genocide that occurred throughout this specific occupation were not purely religious in nature. Motivation might have also been to react to the violence displayed by elements of the Irish who were rising against British control. Regardless of motivation, the results of Cromwells actions and tactics in Ireland were mass death and the creation of a hate that exists thoroughly to this day. Again, the Irish are beginning to experience a collective
1 2

John P Prendergast, The Cromwellian Conquest of Ireland (New York: PM Haverty, 1868), 177. Noel M Griffin, How many died during Cromwells campaign?, History Ireland 6 (2008), accessed 6 May 2011.

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history where their identity is constantly being created in contract to their British occupiers. These events unfolded in the middle of the seventeenth century, but the brutality that the Irish associated with England and their colonial government would last for centuries. Cromwells control over Ireland continued the process of transferring land and wealth out of the hands of the native Catholic Irish holders to upper class Protestant settlers from Great Britain. For generations, the British state had been promoting Protestants from Great Britain to settle parts of Ireland. British people were being planted in significant numbers in Ireland. The Church of Ireland, which was more or less the equivalent of the Church of England, was established as the premier Protestant Church with blatant power over other Protestant denominations and the Irish Catholic Church. Part of this process included removing the Catholic Irish people who had been living on the land. An entire class of landless Irish Catholics was created. The plantation of Ireland had begun under Elizabeth I at the end of the sixteenth century and continued until the end of the seventeenth century. It is important to note that most of the valuable land in Ireland is in the northern part of the island in the region of Ulster. This land was being stripped from Catholic farmers and traded to wealth Protestants from parts of Scotland and England. To this day, there is a slight Protestant majority in the country of Northern Ireland that resulted from this state-sanctioned plantation. Irish identity at this point was not based on religious affiliation. There were Irish Protestants and Irish Catholics throughout the entirety of this period. However, Irish people were beginning to see that their definition, according to their British oppressors, included being a part of the Roman Catholic Church. A series of seventeenth century laws, collectively called the Penal Laws, further marginalized the Catholic population of Ireland. Under a variety of these Penal Laws, Catholics were barred from holding government office, legal office, or military office. Property owning by Catholics

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was also restricted. Dependence on the potato crop and vulnerability to a variety of plights and poor weather conditions resulted in large-scale famines and mass migrations. The Catholic Irish, who were the poor of the population, became further entrenched in a place of susceptibility and poverty. These laws, which would not be repealed until the early nineteenth century, further alienated the Anglican ruling class of the island from their Catholic subjects. In addition to alienating the Catholic majority of the island of Ireland, the English government managed to marginalize the powerful upper class known as the Protestant Ascendancy. The Protestant Ascendancy was the dominant class in the somewhat autonomous Irish state with a history that was centuries old by the nineteenth century. These Anglo-Irish elites owned land and ran the government in the name of England and the Anglican Church. The Anglo-Irish were not necessarily the same as the Gaelic Irish that they governed, but they would consider themselves Irish because they had lived on Ireland for generations. The Catholic dimension of later Irish identity would not include the Anglo-Irish class. As relations between Ireland and Great Britain developed, the Anglo-Irish became bitter as they felt as though the crown for which they were governing was ignoring them.3 This fact would become historically important, as Irelands Anglo-Irish elites were responsible for organizing the first major resistance movements against English rule. In 1798, the Society of United Irishmen organized a rebellion against the English government in Ireland. This event was one of the first major examples of Irish nationalism in its early stages. Led by Theobold Wolfe Tone, Protestant and member of the Anglo-Irish elites, the Society of United Irishmen was an Irish nationalist organization consisting of disenfranchised Catholics and Dissenters. Despite receiving limited aid from the French First Republic, the rebellion failed and
3

John Hutchinson, The Dynamics of Cultural Nationalism: The Gaelic Revival and the Creation of the Irish Nation State (London: Allen and Unwin, 1987), 54-55.

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oppression would increase in the years to come. Great Britain, newly-revitalized after the Glorious Revolution of Protestant King William of Orange over Catholic King James II, would continue its religiously-defined oppression of the people of Ireland. Irish Catholics, specifically, continued to find themselves in a place where there was no option for any realistic expression, whether it was political or otherwise. The 1801 Act of Union finally joined the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. This was the first instance where it was determined that the Irish would be directly ruled from the Westminster Parliament in London, England. Clearly, the British in Britain realized that all of the people of Ireland, from the Anglo-Irish elites to the Irish Catholic majority, were disillusioned with governing themselves as an informal part of the British Empire. If left to themselves, the Anglo-Irish might stage a revolution and there would be no control from London. Instead, the British Parliament chose to directly govern the affairs of the island. This control is important, especially as the Irish begin to specifically define themselves as Catholic and Gaelic. During the nineteenth century, Irish nationalism began to rise in popularity, especially amongst the islands Catholic population. One of the major representations of this Irish Catholic nationalism in the early part of the nineteenth century was Daniel OConnell. OConnell was a Roman Catholic who was elected as a Member of Parliament from Ennis, but could not take his seat because of his religious affiliation. He actively campaigned for Catholic Emancipation, which was ultimately achieved. OConnell would later campaign for a repeal of the Act of Union, but he would then fail. Later on in the nineteenth century, other nationalists led by Charles Stewart Parnell would lead the movement for Home Rule. Home Rule was not independence from the Union, but it

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was more like autonomy within the union. Unionists in Ireland, especially those in Ulster in the North, were vehemently opposed to home rule, as they imagined that the Catholic majority of the island would attain political prowess. Here we see a clear association of identity with religious affiliation. The Catholic Irish are striving for self-government. The Protestants on the island yearn to maintain control over the affairs of the Irish people. At this point, it is almost completely clear that the Irish are Catholic and the other is Protestant. After several failed attempts to legislate Home Rule, a bill that seemed like it would pass finally entered Parliament in 1914. Unionists, almost entirely Protestant, in Ulster formed the Ulster Volunteers to ensure that the bill was not enforced. Catholics in Ireland formed the Irish Volunteers with the intent to be sure that the bill was enacted. The Catholics had taken up arms against the Protestants, and the Catholics called themselves Irish. Irish nationalism had finally become decidedly Irish Catholic nationalism. Self-government had always been the ultimate goal of Irish nationalists, but the idea of complete independence was also widely-embraced. When World War I broke out, the process of realizing Home Rule was halted. The majority of the Irish Volunteers broke away from the group and formed the National Volunteers with the intent to support Irish involvement in the war on the side of the Triple Entente. The minority, retaining the name Irish Volunteers, remained opposed to any Irish involvement in the war. In 1916, the Irish Volunteer minority group aligned with a smaller group of Irish nationalist socialists called the Irish Citizen Army. The groups rose against the British government in an event called Easter Rising, where they occupied important government buildings in Dublin City and other parts of Ireland. The British military eventually crushed the uprising and responded by executing the leaders of Easter Rising individually. In the months that followed, the mood towards Home Rule in Ireland began to change. The pro-independence political party Sinn Fein

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won overwhelming support in 1918 in Ireland and decreed its own government and its own Parliament, the Irish Republic. The British government tried to intervene in the action, and a guerilla war was fought in from 1919 to 1921. The Irish War of Independence ended with the Anglo-Irish Treaty. The Anglo-Irish Treaty gave the new Republic of Ireland complete independence in dealing with domestic affairs. However, members of the Dil and other government officials were forced to swear an oath the Crown. Perhaps more importantly, six counties in the North of Ireland remained a part of the United Kingdom. Although the partition was initially supposed to be temporary, the country of Northern Ireland remains the Kingdom of Northern Ireland and is governed by the British Parliament. A state with a Protestant majority had been cut out of the island of Ireland. The region of Ulster had always been in the North, but even the new state of Northern Ireland did not completely encompass Ulster. The British Parliament, for fear of an armed conflict between Irish Catholics and Protestant Unionists, created a state that has no historical basis. Instead, a state that maintained a Protestant majority was drawn so that the Irish Catholics who found themselves in the borders of the new state would continue to be oppressed for their religious affiliation. There was a vast majority of Catholics in the Irish Free State. From the early stages of Irish nationalism to the eventual selfgovernment of the Irish people, the process of defining Irishness and realizing independence had become almost entirely based on religious affiliation. Conditions in the Anglo-Irish Treaty were not favored by all members of the Irish nationalist coalitions that fought for independence. A civil war broke out between the new governmental forces of the Irish Free State and their supporters and those Irish nationalists who disapproved of the treaty. The anti-treaty group was led by amon de Valera, who would be the President of the Irish Republic into the 1970s, and a ceasefire was finally declared in 1923.

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In 2010, the Republic of Ireland still exists as a sovereign state governing most of the island completely free of direct British influence. Northern Ireland remains a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Both states have delved into the careful process of modernization and inclusion in the European Union since the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Decades of violence have characterized the forced harmony of Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. The conflict has spread into the Republic, into Great Britain, and even farther abroad. Though this violence has decreased dramatically in the past decade or so, British government and military personnel will irregularly be killed by members of several splinter Irish nationalist groups remaining on the island. Part II: Irish Identity After understanding the history of Anglo-Irish relations, it is possible to begin the process of defining Irish identity. This sort of ethnic and national identity, like many other modern notions of ethnicity, has a history and modern construction. Those who identify as Irish people and can be identified by other Irish people as Irish people try to distinguish themselves from the other. This has important historical significance. Like many other states that have been created in the twentieth century, the Republic of Ireland and its people feel the need to retain an identity that belongs uniquely to them. In the Republic of Ireland, both before and after the creation of the modern state, there are several aspects of Irishness that have been defined. The modern Irishmen or Irishwomen identify themselves as Gaelic. Gaels were one of many different branches of the Celtic tribes who inhabited much of Europe. Gaels were the specific group that shared similarities and inhabited Ireland and parts of Scotland. Irish people identify as Gaels because Gaels are one of the earliest and most dominant cultures known to inhabit the island prior to Anglo-Norman influence in the twelfth century. This Gaelic identity varies greatly

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from that of the English or the British. Although Ireland was susceptible to dozens of different migratory and invasion groups since the Gaels first inhabited the island, Irish people determine themselves to be decidedly Gaelic. This fact is likely due to the notion of what might have been a more pure Irish culture prior to any sort of Anglo-Norman influence. In addition to this kind of ethnic identification, Gaelic is important as a linguistic history to Irish people. It is important to distinguish Irish Gaelic from Scots Gaelic. Scots Gaelic is the language spoken by the Gaels in Scotland, whereas Irish Gaelic is the language of the Irish Gaels. Generally, Irish Gaelic is simply referred to as Irish. From 1890 to 1921, there was a period of revival for Irish culture4. Cultural groups, including the Gaelic League and the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), were created to maintain and develop what was state-defined Irishness. The GAA preserved ancient Irish games, like Gaelic football and hurling, and really standardized the sports into their modern form. The Gaelic League sustained and mostly standardized Irish throughout the country5. Irish language was made compulsory in Irish education. Despite the attempt at linguistic revival of Irish in the Republic, Irish really never reached levels of use prior to Anglo intervention in the government of the island. To Irish nationalists, the native language of the Gaelic people (Irish people) is what makes them culturally distinct from their British oppressors. To this end, it was significant to preserve this language and maintain a cultural distinctiveness that lent to the legitimacy of Irish nationalism. Another important aspect of Irish identity is with the Roman Catholic Church. St Patrick converted the inhabitants of Ireland to Christianity from Celtic paganism in the fifth century. Since then, the Irish have maintained a Catholic identity. Despite the success of the Protestant Reformation in Great Britain in the sixteenth century, Irish people retained and developed their
4

Rachel Fleming, Resisting Cultural Standardization: Comhaltas Ceoltir ireann and the Revitalization of Traditional Music in Ireland, Journal of Folklore Research 41 (2004): 231, accessed 20 April 2011. 5 Fleming, Resisting Cultural Standardization, 231.

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Roman Catholicism. Surely there were Protestants in Ireland, perhaps even of the fabled Gaelic origin, but they do not share the oppressed and exploited past of their Catholic brethren. The religious aspects of identity have always been very important in the history of Ireland and Irish nationalism. Many aspects of British oppression of the Irish have not been strictly ethnic. Measures like the Penal Laws were very clearly sectarian, since the laws were only for Catholics. The British knew, however, that Catholic meant Irish, even decades prior to any significant uprisings. Especially since the partition of the island into a clearly-Protestant North and clearlyCatholic South, this sort of sectarian identification between colonizer and colonized is something that is hard to remove. Irish identification with the Catholic Church remains significant to this day, as sectarianism in the North rumbles on. In modern Northern Ireland, the concept of the Orangeman is entirely distinct from that of the Irishman. To be Orange in Northern Ireland means to be a part of the Protestant tradition. To be Green is to be Catholic. Since at least the turn of the twentieth century, it was quite clear that Protestants in Ireland had quite different goals from that of Catholics. Irish people became distinctly Catholic, as the Catholic elements of the island were the leaders of Irish nationalist movements for independence and autonomy. Protestant elements were those unionists in parts of the island who threatened militaristic resistance to state efforts at integration into a Catholicmajority electorate. Moreover, it is almost paradoxical to claim membership of a historicallyCatholic Irish identity Part III: Irish Music It is almost as difficult to clearly define Irish music as it is to define Irish identity. Like any society, music has been a part of Irish culture for centuries. Though there have been attempts at reviving what is considered traditional or folk Irish music, there is no universally-accepted

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definition of Irish folk music. Collections of folk music are available for examination. Although there is a lack of complete cohesion between exactly what was collected and what was omitted, patterns seem to emerge with Irish folk music. The content of these collections must be further analyzed to identify what was widely accepted as Irish folk music at the time. Edward Bunting, who lived from the late eighteenth century to the mid nineteenth century, is credited by many as being the first person to transcribe Irish musical tradition.6 Bunting was an important figure in late eighteenth century Belfast. The 1792 Belfast Harp Festival was an event organized by influential figures in the city. The goal of the festival was to offer prizes to those harpers who performed the best traditional Irish music. However, it is important to realize that the organizers of the event, all of whom were Protestants, determined exactly what was considered Irish music.7 Regardless of possible intentions of the organizers, the Belfast Harp Festival and Bunting were significant in recording the first record of traditional Irish music. Thomas Moore was alive at about the same time as Edward Bunting. Though Buntings collection had been called the national music of Ireland,8 many considered Moores work to be more important in the development of early Irish nationalism. Ironically enough, Moores hymns were set to the tunes captures by Bunting in Belfast. It is significant to understand that Moore was a Catholic, whose parents were from one of a decreasing number of parts of Ireland where the Gaelic language was still the first language over English. This is remarkable, as Irish nationalism progresses to be in the realm of Catholic leaders, rather than Protestant leaders.

SC Lanier, It is new-strung and shant be heard: nationalism and memory in the Irish harp tradition, British Forum for Ethnomusicology 8 (1999): 4, accessed 23 February 2011. 7 Lanier, It is new-strung and shant be heard, 3. 8 Lanier, It is new-strung and shant be heard, 12.

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Using lyrics instead of music by itself, his music had a sometimes very clear political tone. Some of his music is still popular and may be rerecorded by modern Irish folk artists. A third figure worthy of mention is Thomas Davis, who lived during the early to middle of the eighteenth century. Davis was the son of a Welshman and a Protestant. He wrote political music during his life and drew on Moore for inspiration. To some modern historians, Davis was the most renowned political balladeer of the nineteenth century.9 Through the course of a couple generations, music transforms from the music of the Irish harp to politically-charged rhetoric. However, political message was not the intent of most folk music collectors. From Bunting onwards, collectors have determined the definition of Irish folk music. These definitions come from a variety of perspectives. Whether the collector identified as Irish, English, British, Catholic, Protestant, nationalist, unionist, or so on, would determine a great deal about their personal definition of Irish folk music. It is reasonable to assume that these collections drew upon the work of those who had come before them, but defining and redefining Irish music is an important theme about this period in Irish music. Definitions Irish music developed and evolved throughout the course of the last couple of centuries. In 1792, a private organization collected people who played the harp from across the island. Bunting recorded the music. Moore then added lyrics over Buntings music, and his intentions were often blatantly nationalistic. Davis further included nationalistic lyrics in his ballads. The music and images created by Moore and Davis in the nineteenth century would be drawn on by Irish nationalists for generations. As people started to try to preserve an Irish culture through Irish folk music, political music became a major part of this collection. Part IV: Irish Political Music
9

May McCann, Music and politics in Ireland: the specificity of the folk revival in Belfast, British Journal of Ethnomusicology 4 (1995): 57, accessed 16 April 2011.

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May McCann conducted a thorough examination of the collections of Irish folk music. Her conclusions lend a tremendous deal of insight into the workings of music and nationalism in Ireland. After observing the tremendous lack of patriotic songs in the available collections, McCann criticized these collectors. She contends that patriotic music should be included in songs of the people, considering the fact that politics had such an important role in the lives of Irish people throughout the period.10 McCanns understanding of the connection between music and politics is invaluable for its comprehensive approach to the period. Music in Ireland has always been developed in a politically charged atmosphere. Even before Bunting recorded the music of the harpers in Belfast in 1792, the Irish have existed in a colonial relationship with England and Great Britain. This colonial process and the shared experience of the Irish during the entire period would have to have had a tremendous impact on the development of Irish folk music and culture.11 It would be incomprehensive of collectors to omit the patriotic songs of the people from the records and terming the remaining collections folk music. There could be a number of reasons for the censoring of political tones from the themes of the collections of Irish music. Buachalla concludes that the enacting of the 1801 Act of Union was the event that influenced elites on the island to avoid any controversial political talk to avoid religious dissention and sectarianism.12 Perhaps other collectors tried to avoid listeners of their collections from concluding that Irish folk music is about war and death. It may seem obvious that the idyllic image of the isolated Irish cottage surrounded by the flora and fauna of Old Ireland would not include pikes, rifles, and beating drums.

McCann, Music and Politics in Ireland, 53. McCann, Music and Politics in Ireland, 54. 12 B Buachalla, I mBal Feirste cois cuain, translated by Gordon McCoy, Baile tha Cliath (1978): An Clochohhar Teo.
11

10

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Since the noted attempts at the revival of Irish culture, there have been other notable collections of Irish folk music that have included political tunes. McCann notes that the interest in this sort of Irish cultural and folk music revival must be patriotism.13 If there is a surge in popular interest in maintaining Irish culture, then it must be because people are trying to establish the clear definition and history of a nation. A thorough content analysis of the collections of Irish folk music available at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign reveals an interesting trend in the process of folk music collection. Alan Lomax collected and edited songs for The Columbia World Library of Folk and Primitive Music. In the Irish Folk Songs collection, he used the aid of Seamus Ennis to record and edit the selection. There is a brief introduction to the collection that stresses the sense of urgency of the revival and maintenance of Gaelic culture. Among the reasons for the urgency of the collection and revitalization of Irish culture are the availability of global music, the influence of movies and music from abroad, and the trend of migration out of the island for centuries.14 There are a couple dozen selections of Irish folk music, and only one of the recordings is blatantly political. The song Soldier, Soldier is about a militant Irishman during some sort of unspecified armed conflict.15 The publication date for the collection is nowhere to be found, but the estimated date of the publication is in the 1960s. The inclusion of even a single political song in this folk music collection entertains the idea that political music is a recognized part of Irish folk music. This conclusion is supported further in findings in other collections. A 1960 collection titled Irish Folk Songs for Women includes a couple political songs amongst its collection of Irish

McCann, Music and Politics in Ireland, 56. Alan Lomax and Seamus Ennis, The Columbia World Library of Folk and Primitive Music: Irish Folk Songs (New York?: Columbia, 196-?). 15 Lomax and Ennis, Irish Folk Songs.
14

13

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folk music. The Patriot Mother and The Tri-Colored Ribbon both express sympathy and support for Irish nationalist movements.16 This collection was particularly interesting, considering the intent of the pieces was specifically for women. The Patriot Mother is a song about the mother of a militant Irishman.17 Despite the risks her son faces, the mother remains a patriot. Though the origin of these songs is not well-documented, their inclusion into this collection again suggests the acceptance of political music into defined Irish folk music. A 1962 collection recorded by Bill Leader provides evidence for a similar trend. He recorded the folk songs of the McPeake family. There are dozens of folk songs in this collection, and some of them are very powerfully political. The inclusion of Ireland, Boys, Hurrah, a song that is supposedly a hundred years old,18 sends a clear message of Irish nationalism. Other political songs include The Lament of Aughrim, about the defeat of Jacob II at Aughrim, and Carraig Dun (The Dark Rock), which is about the flight of the Catholic landholders from Ireland after the enactment of the Penal Laws.19 The most powerful political lyrics in the collection come from the song An Durd Fainne. The lyrics say Welcome to our victorious army, Some day Ireland will be free of foreigners.20 The politics of this collection of Irish folk songs is quite clear. Irish folk songs include the political songs of Irish nationalists and their sympathizer. From the very first recordings and of Edward Bunting to the most recent collection of supposedly folk songs, the transition in definition of Irish folk music is clear. Political songs have become the songs of the people. Although there is a clear sense of militancy in the recordings, there is no connection between religious denomination and militancy groups. Instead,

Kenneth S Goldstein and Lori Holland, Irish Folk Songs for Women (New York City: Folkway Records, 1960). Goldstein and Holland, Irish Folk Songs for Women. 18 AL Floyd and Bill Leader, The McPeake Family Irish Traditional Folk Songs and Music (London: Topic Records Limited, 1962). 19 Floyd and Leader, The McPeake Family. 20 Floyd and Leader, The McPeake Family.
17

16

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words like Irish and foreigner will be used to reference different groups in the pieces. In a culture where political conflict and violence is often a reality, there is no surprise that there is a vast expanse of different political songs from the past few centuries. Political songs are not the only type of folk song, to be sure. However, the exclusion of political songs from the folk song collections of a culture where this sort of expression is commonplace is irresponsible and inconclusive. Part V: Irish Political Music and Irish Nationalists For Irish nationalist movements, from the late sixteenth century, when the first movements for Irish independence from English affairs may be observed, through the present, song has been an important tool. To a population with limited literacy for much of the period in question, political song was one of the most important ways for messages to be sent. There is some academic support for the claim that music has been important to a variety of Irish nationalist groups. The Society of United Irishmen, formed during the late eighteenth century by many prominent members of the Anglo-Irish Protestant Ascendancy, was responsible for the failed 1798 Irish Rebellion. Song and satire were amongst the instruments used by the United Irishmen as propaganda during the period.21 The particular form of Irish nationalism endorsed by the United Irishmen was not particularly sectarian. After all, the group was composed of prominent Protestants and supported by sympathetic Catholics. It is hard to discern from available records to what degree the United Irishmen sought independence. The spectrum could range anywhere from Irish Parliamentary reform to complete independence. There were several branches of United Irishmen founded throughout the country, and it is hard to identify exactly what is the best definition of United Irishmen nationalism.
21

McCann, Music and Politics in Ireland, 56.

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Young Ireland was a political and social movement that was the inheritor of Irish nationalism after the United Irishmen fizzled out of mainstream politics. The leader of the Young Ireland movement was Thomas Davis, the political balladeer of the nineteenth century. In the groups publication, The Nation, the most popular section was always the ballads section. 22 It seems that once again, even decades after the failure of 1798, Irish nationalism is thriving in the country and song is one important mean for organizing and motivating the movement. The next, and most, significant movement for Irish nationalism came during the early twentieth century. This was the Irish Volunteer movement and the eventual Easter Rising of 1916. Songs from the Young Irelanders The Nation were even sung by the participants in the uprising.23 Participants in the movement used song to fill up the silence between the gunfire. The Soldiers Song, written by Peader Kearney in 1907, became the battle hymn for the rebels and the song itself was adopted as the national anthem of the Republic of Ireland.24 Music and song were an important part of the successful push for Irish independence from Great Britain. As such, it is easy to draw the important of music in Irish nationalism. United Irishmen, Young Irelanders, Irish Volunteers, and the Irish Free State have all been dependent on Irish folk music that was distinctly political. This music helps to organize and motivate a group of rebels who would wage a war against a force that is far more powerful and likely to win. It was only after generations of struggle and music that the Irish would create a sovereign nation-state. Much of the leadership of the United Irishmen and the Young Irelanders was a part of the Protestant Anglo-Irish class. The nationalism these men felt was not religiously defined. Instead, it was simply the sovereignty of an Irish state that was sought. By the time of the coalition of the fragmented Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Brigade, Irish nationalism
Sean Cronin, The Revolutionaries (Bray, Ireland: Record Press, 1971), 31. McCann, Music and Politics in Ireland, 58. 24 McCann, Music and Politics in Ireland, 62.
23 22

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was very much Catholic in nature. These men sang the same songs that were popular for the Anglo-Irish Irish nationalists, but this time they were prepared to take up arms against Protestants who had been living in Ireland for generations. There is no religious tone in Irish political music. However, the enemy that the music was invoked against was often defined along religious affiliation lines. Part VI: The Irish Harp No symbol is as representative of Ireland as the harp. Every part of the Irish identity can be associated with some degree of use of the Irish harp. This use draws from the conclusion that the Irish harp is a culturally distinctive harp when compared to the harps of other cultures. From the onset of the Irish Republic, the harp has been representative of Irishness. Even Irish currency, both before and after the adoption of the Euro, featured harps amongst their symbols of Irish culture. A major beer exported from Ireland is called Harp. In fact, the harp has been an important symbol of Irish nationalism for centuries. The society of United Irishmen adopted the harp as their symbol in the late eighteenth century. The purpose of the adoption of the symbol was to associate the society with an ancient representation of Irish culture25. Of course there was some degree of social construction of the validity of this symbol and its importance to the pre-English Irish. The motto of the newly formed society was Liberty it is new-strung and shall be heard. The stringing of liberty would refer to the stringing of the Irish harp. The Irish harp had continued importance for Irish nationalism in the years to come. The Young Ireland movement continued the United Irishmens tradition of using the harp as representation.26 Again, by using the harp and being the active organization representing Irish
25 26

Lanier, It is new strung and shant be heard, 3. Lanier, It is new-strung and shant be heard, 3.

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nationalism, the Young Irelanders maintained the relationship between Irish nationalism and the harp in the minds of Irishmen across the island. By the time of the Easter Rising, the harp had been an established symbol of Irish nationalism. It was only natural that the first Irish President amon de Valera would make the harp the symbol used on Irish currency. From the 1792 Belfast Harp Festival, the first major recorded competition for Irish traditional music, up through the modern Irish Republic, the harp has proven to be an important marker of where the culture of Ireland was prior to English influence on the island. The utilization of this symbol was important for nationalists who wanted to paint a picture of an Ireland that was free of foreign influence. The fact that the harp was a musical instrument once again goes to show how important music has been for Irish nationalism. The harp was the symbol for the early, not religious, forms of Irish nationalism. As Irish nationalism developed into a form of political expression that was specifically Catholic, the harp continued to be used as a symbol. Ultimately, as the harp was used by Irish Catholic nationalists, the harp came to symbolize Catholic Ireland. Part VII: Music and Power in Northern Ireland Up until very recently in Northern Irelands history, Catholics had been severely marginalized. The state very blatantly favored Protestants in all sorts of domestic affairs. From politics to police, it was quite clear that the Protestant part of the state, which has had an increasingly small majority over Catholics, was the wielder of power. The dynamic of this power relation has been made apparent through the use of music and street bands in Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland has had a very marked history of sectarianism. Relations are always defined as Catholic or Protestant. The Orange Order is a Protestant society that is endorsed by the state

and is vocally anti-Catholic.27 For decades the group has had parades characterized by pipe and

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drum bands. Musical expression is one thing, but the sectarian implications that came with the marches are another thing. Often the Orange Order would design its parade routes to go through parts of Northern Ireland that were well-known to be Catholic areas, especially in Belfast. These parades often concluded with violent clashes between sectarian groups. Nonetheless, Orange Order parades continue into the twenty-first century and the sounds of pipes and drums in the streets are symbolic of Protestant control over the Catholic population. The Catholic counterpart to the Orange Order was the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH). This was hardly a fair counterpart, considering the level of censorship the group experienced from the British state. Choice of instruments was most likely similar, considering the immobility of the traditional harp. Parades were canceled, routes were changed, and rules about flag-waving and song singing were commonplace for AOH parades.28 Almost as quickly as a Catholic answer to the Protestant challenge began, it was over. Catholic culture became marginalized in Northern Ireland. Power relations were quite clear in Northern Ireland and music was a way to mark power and resistance. Protestant parades and music were endorsed by the state. Catholic parades and music were rendered nonexistent by the British government. Catholics in Northern Ireland continued to practice music privately and within their communities. However, Catholic music in Northern Ireland would never reach the public stage like that of the Orange Order. Music, power, and resistance in Northern Ireland demonstrate an important aspect of identity in Ireland. Catholic expression was officially repressed and extremely limited. Protestant demonstrations were endorsed, promoted, and continued to provoke Catholic communities
27 28

McCann, Music and Politics in Ireland, 62. McCann, Music and Politics in Ireland, 63.

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despite repeated violent clashes. The Irish Catholic identity was strengthened throughout Northern Ireland, where Sinn Fin, the only major political party in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland still fully endorsing complete Irish independence from the United Kingdom, still receives a significant proportion of votes. The evolution of Irish nationalism is still very easy to observe in Northern Ireland, where the ideology is very strictly along lines of religious affiliation. Conclusions Studying the creation of Irish music, the study of Irish music, and the societal implications of Irish music reveals the very powerful relationship Irish music has had with Irish nationalism. Irish folk music has always been a part of Irish nationalism, and Irish nationalism has always been a part of Irish folk music. Separating one from the other is impossible because the two have been so intertwined for centuries. When Irish nationalists look to an imagined Gaelic past, free from the influence of the English or the Protestant Reformation, they find sanctuary in the folk songs. Especially since the end of the eighteenth century, Irish nationalism has been a movement of the masses who have been unable to express their desire for independence through traditional political means. These people would have to turn to music and the arts to show their sentiments. The people of Ireland, with their colonial history and independent future, have linked nationalism and a sense of ethnic pride with the music of their past. Without musical expression, there would be no Irish nation.

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