Musical Ireland

Ireland is synonymous with music – particularly the music of the common folk.

During the mass migration to the United States of America in the 19th Century, the folk music of Ireland greatly influenced the development of what we now call Country Music. 

But it's going on stronger than ever back home and even helping the balance of payments! continue reading . . .

Nor did the poignant ballads of Irish music get lost with the immigration and one of Irelands most famous ballads, "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen", was actually written in America by Thomas. P. Westendorf of Caroline County, Virginia.

It concerns the author's longing for Ireland and his promise to take his lady, Kathleen "home again" to where the hills are fresh and green. It must bring a lump to the throat of many an Irishman away from home, whether in America, Australia or merely "across the water" in  Kilburn, London.

Back in present day Ireland, music is still a force and has now become one of Irelands best known exports, in line with the Irish Government's avowed intention to move to a knowledge based, high technical content economy.

Spearheading this on the music front is the pop band U2, but close behind comes Enya.

Enya (her Gaelic name is: Eithne Ni Bhraonain) comes from Donegal, in the far north west of Ireland (where Gaelic is still the first language), and is a member of the musical Brennan family.

Her elder brothers, Ciaran and Paul and sister Maire started the group, Clannad, in 1970 and had a world wide hit with the haunting vocals used in the TV movie "Harry's Game".

Enya, being younger, joined the group later, in 1980, striking out on her own after just a couple of years. Her unique moulding of traditional Irish melodies and New Age sounds and harmonies have proved massively popular and made her a multi millionaire.

Aided by Roma and Nicky Ryan, she has sold some 20 million recordings of  her unique and evocative music. She recently lent her atmospheric genius by writing music and singing on the soundtrack of the movie, "Lord of The Rings".

As her fame spread she moved from rural Donegal to the outskirts of Dublin, living in a luxury apartment overlooking Dun Loaghaire Harbour. More recently, she is reputed to have paid about £2.5million to buy a run down castle along the coast in Killenny, overlooking the Celtic Sea.

Close by, nestling in the beautiful Wicklow countryside, live the members of the Chieftains, a very popular band of musicians, who keep traditional Irish music alive and well.

The Chieftains has five members. The leader is Paddy Maloney on the Uilleann pipes, with Derek Bell on the Harp, Sean Keane on the fiddle, Kevin Conneff on the bodhran (a small, hand held drum, typical of Irish folk bands) and Matt Molloy on the flute.

One distinct advantage the band enjoy is that flute player, Matt Molloy also owns a pub.

Although their music is firmly based on traditional Irish music, they are very cosmopolitan in their choice of musical partners and these have ranged from classic flutist, James Galway, via Van Morrison and Art Garfunkel to country singers Linda Ronstadt and Ricky Skaggs.

© Copyright 2007 Joseph Donegal and The-Best–Of-Ireland