Music of Ireland
Encyclopedia
Irish Music is the generic term for music that has been created in various genres on the island of Ireland
.
The indigenous music of the island is termed Irish traditional music. It has remained vibrant through the 20th, and into the 21st century, despite globalizing cultural forces. In spite of emigration
and a well-developed connection to music influences from Britain
and the United States
, Irish music has kept many of its traditional aspects and has itself influenced many forms of music, such as country and roots music in the USA, which in turn have had some influence on modern rock music
. It has occasionally been fused with rock and roll
, punk rock
and other genres. Some of these fusion artists have attained mainstream success, at home and abroad.
In recent decades Irish music in many different genres has been very successful internationally. However, the most successful genres have been rock, popular and traditional fusion, with performers such as Clannad, Celtic Thunder
, Enya
, Westlife
, Thin Lizzy
, The Pogues
, Rory Gallagher
, Bob Geldof
, The Corrs
, The Chieftains
, The Irish Rovers
, Riverdance
, The Irish Tenors, Van Morrison
, The Saw Doctors
, Snow Patrol
, The Cranberries
, U2
, The Undertones
, Ash
, The Script, Sinéad O'Connor
, Damien Rice
, Glen Hansard
and Eleanor McEvoy
achieving success nationally and internationally.
were listing native musicians, such as the following:
(died 747) lived much of his adult life in Gaelic Scotland, and composed at least one hymn. Foillan
, who was alive in the seventh century, travelled through much of Britain
and France
; around 653 at the request of St. Gertrude of Brabant, taught psalmody to her nuns at Nievelle. Tuotilo
(c.850–c. 915), who lived in Italy
and Germany
, was noted both as a musician and a composer.
Helias of Cologne
(died 1040), is held to be the first to introduce Roman chant to Cologne
. His contempory, Aaron Scotus
(died 18 November 1052) was an acclaimed composer
of Gregorian chant
in Germany
.
Donell Dubh Ó Cathail
(c. 1560s-c.1660), was not only musician of Viscount Buttevant, but, with his uncle Donell Óge Ó Cathail, harper to Elizabeth II.
. Turlough Carolan (1670–1738) is the best known of those harpists, and over 200 of his compositions are known. He wrote in a baroque style that is usually classified as classical music, but his music has entered the tradition and is played by many folk musicians today. Edward Bunting
collected some of the last-known Irish harp tunes at the Belfast Harp Festival
in 1792. Other important collectors of Irish music include Francis O'Neill
and George Petrie.
Other notable Irish musicians of this era included Cearbhall Óg Ó Dálaigh
(fl. c. 1630); Piaras Feiritéar
(1600?–1653); William Connellan
(fl. mid-17th century) and his brother, Thomas Connellan
(c. 1640/1645–1698), composers; Dominic Ó Mongain
(alive 18th century); Donnchadh Ó Hámsaigh
(1695–1807); poet and songwriter Eoghan Rua Ó Súilleabháin (1748–1782); Arthur O'Neill
(fl. 1792);Patrick Byrne (musician)
(c.1794-1863); poet and songwriter Colm de Bhailís
(1796–1906).
s and lament
s, sung unaccompanied or with accompaniment by a variety of instruments. Traditional dance music
includes reels
(4/4), hornpipe
s and jig
s (the common double jig is in 6/8 time). The polka
arrived at the start of the nineteenth century, spread by itinerant dancing masters and mercenary soldiers, returning from Europe. Set dancing may have arrived in the eighteenth century. Later imported dance-signatures include the mazurka
and the highlands (a sort of Irished version of the Scottish strathspey
). In the nineteenth century folk instruments would have included the flute
the fiddle
and the uilleann pipes
.
A revival of Irish traditional music took place around the turn of the 20th century. The button accordion
and the concertina
were becoming common. Irish stepdance
was performed at céilís
, organised competitions and at some country houses where local and itinerant musicians were welcome. Irish dancing was supported by the educational system and patriotic organisations. An older style of singing called sean-nós
("in the old style"), which is a form of traditional Irish singing
was still found, mainly for very poetic songs in the Irish language.
From 1820 to 1920 over 4,400,000 Irish emigrated to the USA, creating an Irish diaspora in Chicago (see Francis O'Neill
), Boston, New York and other cities. Irish musicians who were successful in the USA made recordings which found their way around the world and re-invigorated musical styles back in the homeland. For example American-based fiddlers like Michael Coleman
, James Morrison
and Paddy Killoran
did much to popularise Irish music in the 1920s and 1930s.
After a lull in the 1940s and 1950s, when (except for Céilidh bands
) traditional music was at a low ebb, Seán Ó Riada
's The Chieftains
, The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, The Irish Rovers
, The Dubliners
, Ryan's Fancy
and Sweeney's Men
were in large part responsible for a second wave of revitalization of Irish folk music in the 1960s. Several of these were featured in the 2010 TV movie "My Music: When Irish Eyes are Smiling". They were followed by the likes of Planxty
, The Bothy Band
and Clannad in the 70s. Later came such bands as Stockton's Wing
, De Dannan
, Altan, Arcady, Dervish
and Patrick Street
, along with a wealth of individual performers.
In the eighteenth century a number of musical clubs were formed, mainly in Dublin, for charitable purposes, which led to an upsurge in performances. Handel
arrived in Dublin in 1742 to superintend the first performance of his famous oratorio
. The Passerini and Damici families were favourite performers in Dublin at the operas, concerts and oratorios which were then popular.
Among the next generation of musicians was John Stevenson
(1761–1833), who is best known for his publications of Irish Melodies with poet Thomas Moore
. His works include religious music, catches, glees, odes, operas, songs and symphonies and accompaniments to airs. His contemporaries in the musical field were Michael Kelly and Doctor Carter. John Field
, who lived in the early Romantic Era has been credited with the creation of the Nocturne form, later developed by Frédéric Chopin
. Michael W. Balfe composer of 38 operas for the houses of London, Paris, Milan and Vienna; William Vincent Wallace
composer of six operas and Charles Villiers Stanford
achieved popularity in Europe and the UK during the 19th and early-20th centuries, but success for Irish composers has come primarily from outside the Irish state.
Michele Esposito
, a figure of seminal importance in the history of Irish music of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, arrived in Ireland in 1882. He became chief pianoforte professor at the Royal Irish Academy of Music
and remained in Ireland for forty-six years, teaching two generations of musicians and composing notable works. A notable contributor to Irish music since the 1930s was Cork professor of music Aloys Fleischmann
. Today, the best-known living Irish composer is Gerald Barry whose operatic works have been particularly successful in the UK and Europe.
, (1818–1861) Ireland's first great international prima donna and the first Irish woman to perform at La Scala in Milan; tenor John McCormack (1884–1945), the most celebrated tenor of his day; opera singer Margaret Burke-Sheridan (1889–1958); the concert flautist Sir James Galway and pianist Barry Douglas
. Douglas achieved fame in 1986 by claiming the International Tchaikovsky Competition
gold medal. Mezzo-sopranos Bernadette Greevy
and Ann Murray
have also had success internationally.
, known for their contribution to Riverdance
in the early 1990s. They have also been nominated for a Classical Brit Award in the UK and were invited to give the first ever Irish Prom at the BBC Proms series in the Royal Albert Hall
in 1999. The National Chamber Choir and Resurgam are two important professional choral groups that have begun to make an impact upon the awareness of vocal music beyond that of opera or contemporary popular music, while there are several high-quality church choirs, particularly in Dublin: The Palestrina Choir (St. Mary's Pro-Cathedral), Christ Church Cathedral Choir (Christ Church Cathedral) and St. Patrick's Cathedral Choir.
In the 1980s Shaun Davey
composed The Brendan Voyage
, a mix of classical orchestral and Irish traditional styles with the uilleann piper Liam O'Flynn
as the soloist. He continued and expanded this genre with his compositions The Pilgrim
, Granuaile, and The Relief of Derry Symphony.
Piano Concerto No.1, Guitar Concerto No.1 and the Variations on Bach's Inventions are some of the works of Richard Kearns
who is another of Ireland's classical composers.
were a major force in Irish popular music, particularly in rural areas, for twenty years from the mid-1950s. The showband played in dance halls and was loosely based on the six or seven piece Dixieland
dance band. The basic showband repertoire included standard dance numbers, cover versions of pop music
hits, ranging from rock and roll
, country and western to jazz
standards. Key to the showband's success was the ability to learn and perform songs currently in the record chart
s. They sometimes played Irish traditional
or Céilidh music
and a few included self-composed songs.
With the rise in popularity of American country music
, a new subgenre developed in Ireland known as 'Country and Irish'. It was formed by mixing American Country music with Irish influences, incorporating Irish folk music. This often resulted in traditional Irish songs been sung in a country music style. It is especially popular in the rural Midlands and North-West of the country. It also remains popular among Irish emigrants in Britain
. Big Tom and The Mainliners
were the first major contenders in this genre, having crossed over from the showband era of the 1960s. Other major artists were Philomena Begley
and Margo, the latter even being bestowed the unofficial title of Queen of Country & Irish. The most successful performer in the genre today is Daniel O'Donnell
, who has garnered success in the UK, US
and Australia
.
, Van Morrison
, Hothouse Flowers
and Sinéad O'Connor
using traditional elements in popular songs. Enya
achieved international success with New Age
/Celtic fusions. The Pogues
, led by Shane MacGowan
, helped fuse Irish folk with punk rock
to some success beginning in the 1980s, while the Afro-Celt Sound System achieved fame adding West African influences and drum n bass in the 1990s while bands such as Kíla
fuse traditional Irish with rock and world music representing the Irish tradition at world music festivals across Europe and America. The most notable fusion band in Ireland was Horslips, who combined Irish themes and music with heavy rock.
Riverdance
is a musical and dancing interval act which originally starred Michael Flatley
and Jean Butler
and featuring the choir Anúna
. It was performed during the Eurovision Song Contest 1994
. Popular reaction to the act was so immense that an entire musical revue was built around the act.
, Van Morrison
, Emmet Spiceland
, Eire Apparent
, Skid Row, Taste
, Rory Gallagher
, Dr. Strangely Strange
, Thin Lizzy
, Mellow Candle
.
In 1970 Dana
put Ireland on the pop music map by winning Eurovision with her song All Kinds Of Everything
. She went to number one in the UK and all over Europe and paved the way for many Irish artists. Dana had a number of follow up hits throughout the 70's when she was signed to Decca and the GTO record label, whose artists included Donna Summer, Heatwave and Irish pop groups the Nolan Sisters and the Dooleys. Groups who formed during the emergence of Punk rock
in the mid-late 1970s included U2
, Virgin Prunes
, The Boomtown Rats
, The Undertones
, Aslan
, Gavin Friday
, and Stiff Little Fingers
. Later in the 80s and into the 90s, Irish punk fractured into new styles of alternative rock
, which included That Petrol Emotion
, My Bloody Valentine and Ash
.
In the 1990s, pop bands like the Corrs
, B*Witched, Boyzone
, Westlife
and The Cranberries
emerged. In the same decade, Ireland also contributed a subgenre of folk metal
known as Celtic metal
with exponents of the genre including Cruachan
, Primordial
, Skyclad
, Geasa
and Waylander
.
Other artists well-known as popular music performers include Paddy Casey
, Jack L, Declan O'Rourke
, Jerry Fish & The Mudbug Club
, Phil Coulter
, Dolores Keane
, Damien Rice
, Damien Dempsey
, Eleanor McEvoy
, Finbar Wright
, Maura O'Connell
, Frances Black
, Sharon Shannon
, Mary Black
, The Frames
and Stockton's Wing
.
Since the 2000s the music industry is continuing to grow with well established acts such as Snow Patrol
, The Coronas
, Bell X1, Julie Feeney
, The Thrills
, Gemma Hayes
, Villagers
, The Script, Codes
, The Blizzards
, and The Answer
.
musicians or bands
the public considered to be the 'most standout'. U2
topped the list with sixty-eight percent while Westlife
, Van Morrison
, Boyzone
and The Cranberries
came in 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th, respectively. The research also suggested that the 'top-five' had sold over 341 million albums up to March 2010.
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
.
The indigenous music of the island is termed Irish traditional music. It has remained vibrant through the 20th, and into the 21st century, despite globalizing cultural forces. In spite of emigration
Emigration
Emigration is the act of leaving one's country or region to settle in another. It is the same as immigration but from the perspective of the country of origin. Human movement before the establishment of political boundaries or within one state is termed migration. There are many reasons why people...
and a well-developed connection to music influences from Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Irish music has kept many of its traditional aspects and has itself influenced many forms of music, such as country and roots music in the USA, which in turn have had some influence on modern rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
. It has occasionally been fused with rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
, punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
and other genres. Some of these fusion artists have attained mainstream success, at home and abroad.
In recent decades Irish music in many different genres has been very successful internationally. However, the most successful genres have been rock, popular and traditional fusion, with performers such as Clannad, Celtic Thunder
Celtic Thunder
Celtic Thunder is a singing group composed of male soloists who perform both solo and ensemble numbers. Celtic Thunder debuted in August 2007 at The Helix in Dublin, Ireland...
, Enya
Enya
Enya is an Irish singer, instrumentalist and songwriter. Enya is an approximate transliteration of how Eithne is pronounced in the Donegal dialect of the Irish language, her native tongue.She began her musical career in 1980, when she briefly joined her family band Clannad before leaving to...
, Westlife
Westlife
Westlife are an Irish boy band established on 3 July 1998. They are to disband in 2012. The group's line-up was Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan, and Brian McFadden . The group are the only act in British and Irish history to have their first seven singles peak at number one...
, Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Two of the founding members, drummer Brian Downey and bass guitarist/vocalist Phil Lynott met while still in school. Lynott assumed the role of frontman and led them throughout their recording career of thirteen studio albums...
, The Pogues
The Pogues
The Pogues are a Celtic punk band, formed in 1982 and fronted by Shane MacGowan. The band reached international prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. MacGowan left the band in 1991 due to drinking problems but the band continued first with Joe Strummer and then with Spider Stacy on vocals before...
, Rory Gallagher
Rory Gallagher
William Rory Gallagher, ; 2 March 1948 – 14 June 1995, was an Irish blues-rock multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and bandleader. Born in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, Ireland, and raised in Cork, Gallagher recorded solo albums throughout the 1970s and 1980s, after forming the band Taste...
, Bob Geldof
Bob Geldof
Robert Frederick Zenon "Bob" Geldof, KBE is an Irish singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor and political activist. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the punk rock movement. The band had hits with his...
, The Corrs
The Corrs
The Corrs are an Irish band which combine pop rock with traditional Celtic folk music. The brother and sisters are from Dundalk, Ireland. The group consists of the Corr siblings: Andrea ; Sharon ; Caroline ; and Jim .The Corrs came to international prominence with their performance at the...
, The Chieftains
The Chieftains
The Chieftains are a Grammy-winning Irish musical group founded in 1962, best known for being one of the first bands to make Irish traditional music popular around the world.-Name:...
, The Irish Rovers
The Irish Rovers
The Irish Rovers is a Canadian Irish folk group created in 1963 and named after the traditional song "The Irish Rover". The group is best known for their international television series, and renditions of traditional Irish drinking songs, as well as early hits, Shel Silverstein's "The Unicorn",...
, Riverdance
Riverdance
Riverdance is a theatrical show consisting of traditional Irish stepdancing, notable for its rapid leg movements while body and arms are kept largely stationary. It originated as an interval performance during the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, a moment that is still considered a significant...
, The Irish Tenors, Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
, The Saw Doctors
The Saw Doctors
The Saw Doctors are an Irish rock band. Formed in 1986 in Tuam, County Galway, they have achieved eighteen Top 30 singles in Ireland, including three number ones. Their first number one, "I Useta Lover," topped the Irish charts for nine consecutive weeks in 1990, and still holds the record for the...
, Snow Patrol
Snow Patrol
Snow Patrol are an alternative rock band from Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland. Formed at the University of Dundee in 1994 as an indie rock band, the band is now based in Glasgow...
, The Cranberries
The Cranberries
The Cranberries are an Irish rock band formed in Limerick in 1989 under the name The Cranberry Saw Us, later changed by vocalist Dolores O'Riordan. The band currently consists of O'Riordan, guitarist Noel Hogan, bassist Mike Hogan and drummer Fergal Lawler...
, U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
, The Undertones
The Undertones
The Undertones are a punk rock/new wave band formed in Derry, Northern Ireland, in 1975.The original line-up of the Undertones released thirteen singles and four studio albums — The Undertones , Hypnotised , Positive Touch and The Sin of Pride — before disbanding in July 1983.Music guide Allmusic...
, Ash
Ash (band)
Ash are an alternative rock band that formed in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland in 1992. The band has sold 8 million albums worldwide.-Band beginning, Trailer and 1977 :...
, The Script, Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....
, Damien Rice
Damien Rice
Damien Rice is an Irish singer-songwriter, musician and record producer who plays guitar, piano, clarinet and percussion....
, Glen Hansard
Glen Hansard
Glen Hansard is the Academy Award–winning principal songwriter and vocalist/guitarist for Irish group The Frames and one half of folk rock duo, The Swell Season...
and Eleanor McEvoy
Eleanor McEvoy
Eleanor McEvoy is one of Ireland's most accomplished contemporary singer/songwriters. McEvoy composed the song Only A Woman's Heart, title track of A Woman's Heart, the best-selling Irish album in Irish history.-Biography:...
achieving success nationally and internationally.
Early Irish music
By the High and Late Medieval Era, the Irish annalsIrish annals
A number of Irish annals were compiled up to and shortly after the end of Gaelic Ireland in the 17th century.Annals were originally a means by which monks determined the yearly chronology of feast days...
were listing native musicians, such as the following:
- 921. Cú Congalta, priest of Lann-Leire, the Tethra (i. e. the singer or orator) for voice, personal form, and knowledge, died.
- 1011. Connmhach Ua Tomhrair, priest and chief singer of Cluain-mic-NoisClonmacnoiseThe monastery of Clonmacnoise is situated in County Offaly, Ireland on the River Shannon south of Athlone....
, died. - 1168. Amhlaeibh Mac InnaighneorachAmhlaeibh Mac InnaighneorachAmhlaeibh Mac Innaighneorach, Chief Harper of Ireland, died 1168.Mac Innaighneorach is one of the earliest recorded Irish professional musicians...
, chief ollamh of Ireland in harp-playing, died. - 1226: Aed mac Donn Ó SochlachainAed mac Donn Ó SochlachainAed mac Donn Ó Sochlachain, Erenagh of Cong and Irish musician, died 1226.Ó Sochlachain was one of the earliest Irish musicians described in the extant Irish annals, denoting the respect the profession had acquired in recent generations...
, erenagh of CongCongCong may refer to:*Cong , a form of jade artifact from ancient China*Cong , a Chinese surname.*Cống people, an indigenous people of about 1,700 in Vietnam*Cong, County Mayo, a village in the Republic of Ireland...
, a man eminent for chanting and for the right tuning of harps and for having made an instrument for himself which none had made before, distinguished also in every art such as poetry, engraving and writing and in every skilled occupation, died this year. - 1269: Aed Ó FinnAed Ó FinnAed Ó Finn, Irish musician, died 1269.In medieval Ireland, there were at least three unrelated clans of the name Ó Finn: one in Airgíalla, a second at Kilcolgan in County Galway, and a third in County Sligo....
, master of music and minstrelsy, died. - 1329: Maol Ruanaidh Cam Ó CearbhaillMaol Ruanaidh Cam Ó CearbhaillMaol Ruanaidh Cam Ó Cearbhaill , Irish tiompan musician, murdered Saturday 10 June 1329.-Origin:...
, tiompanist, murdered during the Braganstown Massacre in County LouthCounty LouthCounty Louth is a county of Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Louth. Louth County Council is the local authority for the county...
. - 1330: Mael Sechlainn Mac CarmaicMael Sechlainn Mac CarmaicMael Sechlainn Mac Carmaic, Irish musician, died 1330.Called a general entertainer in the Annals of Connacht, the Annals of the Four Masters list him as a a wealthy Brughaidh Cedach....
, a general entertainer, died. - 1343: Donnchad Clereach Ó Maol BraonáinDonnchad Clereach Ó Maol BraonáinDonnchad Clereach Ó Maol Braonáin, Irish cleric and musician, died 1343.The Annals of Lough Ce, sub anno 1343, note the manner of Ó Maol Braonáin's death:...
, a choral canonCanon (priest)A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
of ElphinElphin, County RoscommonElphin, sometimes spelt Elfin , is a village in north County Roscommon, Ireland. It forms the southern tip of a triangle with Boyle and Carrick-on-Shannon to the north west and north east respectively. It is at the junction of the R368 and R369 regional roads...
, was killed by an arrow. - 1357: Donn Shléibhe Mac CerbaillDonn Shléibhe Mac CerbaillDonn Shléibhe Mac Cerbaill, Irish musician, died 1357.The Annals of Connacht sub anno 1357 mention the death of Donn Shléibhe Mac Cerbaill, an accomplished musician....
, an accomplished musician ... died. - 1360: Gilla na Naem Ó ConmaighGilla na Naem Ó ConmaighGilla na Naem Ó Conmaigh, Irish musician, died 1360.The Annals of the Four Masters, sub anno 1360, record the death of Gilla-na-naev O'Conmhaigh, Chief Professor of Music in Thomond....
, music ollamOllamIn Irish, Ollam or Ollamh , is a master in a particular trade or skill. In early Irish Literature, it generally refers to the highest rank of Fili; it could also modify other terms to refer to the highest member of any group: thus an ollam brithem would be the highest rank of judge and an ollam rí...
h of ThomondThomondThomond The region of Ireland associated with the name Thomond is County Clare, County Limerick and north County Tipperary; effectively most of north Munster. The name is used by a variety of establishments and organisations located in , or associated with the region...
... died. - 1361. Magraith Ó Fionnachta, Chief Musician and Tiompanist to the Síol MuireadaighSíol MuireadaighSíol Muireadaigh, Gaelic-Irish dynasty and territory, located in north County Roscommon.-Overview:The Síol Muireadaigh were a dynasty of related clans, all descendants of King Muiredach Muillethan of Connacht , all of whom lived in north-central Connaught...
, died. - 1364: Bran Ó Brain, a skillful tympanist ... died.
- 1369: John Mac Egan, and Gilbert Ó Bardan, two accomplished young harpers of ConmaicneConmaicneThe Conmhaicne or Conmaicne were an ancient tribal grouping that were divided into a number of distinct branches that were found scattered around Ireland in the early medieval period. They settled in Connacht, where they gave their name to several territories....
, died. - 1469: Ruaidrí mac Donnchad Ó DálaighRuaidrí mac Donnchad Ó DálaighRuaidrí mac Donnchad Ó Dálaigh, Irish musician, died 1469.Called the most musical-handed harpist in all Ireland, Ruaidrí was a member of the Ó Dálaigh of professional bards. While most notable members of the family in medieval Ireland were poets, a few such as Cearbhall Óg Ó Dálaigh were famed...
, the most musical-handed harpist in all Ireland. - 1490: Diarmait MacCairbreDiarmait MacCairbreDiarmait MacCairbre, Irish musician, executed 1490.According to the Annals of the Four Masters, in 1490:John Oge, the son of John More of Ilay , was treacherously slain by Diarmait Mac Cairbre, an Ultonian harper, who was one of his own servants; but Mac Carbry was quartered for this...
, harper, executed. - 1553: Tadhg, son of Ruaidhri Ó Comhdhain, i.e. the ollamh of ÉireÉireis the Irish name for the island of Ireland and the sovereign state of the same name.- Etymology :The modern Irish Éire evolved from the Old Irish word Ériu, which was the name of a Gaelic goddess. Ériu is generally believed to have been the matron goddess of Ireland, a goddess of sovereignty, or...
and AlbaAlbaAlba is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is cognate to Alba in Irish and Nalbin in Manx, the two other Goidelic Insular Celtic languages, as well as similar words in the Brythonic Insular Celtic languages of Cornish and Welsh also meaning Scotland.- Etymology :The term first appears in...
in music, died. - 1561: Naisse mac CithruadhNaisse mac Cithruadh-Biography:The Annals of Loch Ce, sub anno 1561, contain a reference to Naisse and his wife, and their deaths on Lough Gill:Naisse, the son of Cithruadh, the most eminent musician that was in Erinn, was drowned on Loch-Gile, and his wife, the daughter of Mac Donnchadha, and Athairne, the son of...
, drowned on Lough GillLough GillLough Gill is a freshwater lough mainly situated in County Sligo, but partly in County Leitrim, in Ireland. It is about 8 km or 5 miles long and 2 km or 1 mile wide, and drains into the River Garavogue near Sligo Town. The picturesque lake is surrounded by wooded hills and is popular with...
. - 1589. Daighre Ó Duibhgeannáin, a most affable, musical man, died.
Early Irish musicians abroad
Some musicians were acclaimed in places beyond Ireland. Cú ChuimneCú Chuimne
Cú Chuimne was a monk of Iona. Cú Chuimne, along with Ruben of Dairinis, was responsible for the great compendium known as Collectio canonum Hibernensis .Little is known of Cú Chuimne...
(died 747) lived much of his adult life in Gaelic Scotland, and composed at least one hymn. Foillan
Foillan
Saint Foillan is an Irish saint of the seventh century.- Family :Foillan was the brother of Saints Ultan and Fursey. He is described as the 'uterine brother' of Fursey, meaning that they had the same mother but not the same father...
, who was alive in the seventh century, travelled through much of Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
; around 653 at the request of St. Gertrude of Brabant, taught psalmody to her nuns at Nievelle. Tuotilo
Tuotilo
Saint Tuotilo was a medieval monk and composer. Born in Ireland, he is said to have been a large and powerfully built man. He was educated at the Abbey of St. Gall and remained to become a monk there. He was the friend of Notker of St. Gall, with whom he studied music under Moengal...
(c.850–c. 915), who lived in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, was noted both as a musician and a composer.
Helias of Cologne
Helias of Cologne
Helias of Cologne, Irish abbot, musician and composer, died 1040.-Background:Helias was a native of what is now County Monaghan, apparently been a monk at the monastery of Muckno which is now the parish around the town of Castleblayney...
(died 1040), is held to be the first to introduce Roman chant to Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
. His contempory, Aaron Scotus
Aaron Scotus
Aaron Scotus, Irish abbot and musician, fl. late 10th century – 18 November 1052.-Background:Aaron was an Irish abbot and music theorist, the term Scotus at the time denoting a native of Ireland .-St. Martin's of Cologne:...
(died 18 November 1052) was an acclaimed composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
of Gregorian chant
Gregorian chant
Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic liturgical music within Western Christianity that accompanied the celebration of Mass and other ritual services...
in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
Donell Dubh Ó Cathail
Donell Dubh Ó Cathail
-Background:Ó Cathail was the son of a Cormac Ó Cathail, and a nephew or close relative of the Donell Óge Ó Cathail, harper to Elizabeth I. Apparently, harping was the family profession...
(c. 1560s-c.1660), was not only musician of Viscount Buttevant, but, with his uncle Donell Óge Ó Cathail, harper to Elizabeth II.
Early Modern times
Up to the seventeenth century, harp musicians were patronised by the aristocracy in Ireland. This tradition died out in the eighteenth century with the collapse of Gaelic IrelandGaelic Ireland
Gaelic Ireland is the name given to the period when a Gaelic political order existed in Ireland. The order continued to exist after the arrival of the Anglo-Normans until about 1607 AD...
. Turlough Carolan (1670–1738) is the best known of those harpists, and over 200 of his compositions are known. He wrote in a baroque style that is usually classified as classical music, but his music has entered the tradition and is played by many folk musicians today. Edward Bunting
Edward Bunting
Edward Bunting was an Irish musician and folk music collector.-Life:Bunting was born in County Armagh, Ireland. At the age of seven he was sent to study music at Drogheda and at eleven he was apprenticed to William Ware, organist at St. Anne's church in Belfast and lived with the family of Henry...
collected some of the last-known Irish harp tunes at the Belfast Harp Festival
Belfast Harp Festival
The Belfast Harp Festival, 11-14th July 1792, was a four-day event organised by Dr.James McDonnell, Robert Bradshaw and Henry Joy McCracken, following a six year lapse from the last Granard harp festival...
in 1792. Other important collectors of Irish music include Francis O'Neill
Francis O'Neill
Francis O'Neill was an Irish-born American police officer and collector of Irish traditional music.O'Neill was born in Tralibane, near Bantry, County Cork. At an early age he heard the music of local musicians, among them Peter Hagarty, Cormac Murphy and Timothy Dowling. At the age of 16, he...
and George Petrie.
Other notable Irish musicians of this era included Cearbhall Óg Ó Dálaigh
Cearbhall Óg Ó Dálaigh
Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh was a 17th century Irish language poet and harpist, who composed the song "Eileanóir a Rún".Cearbhall was a common name amongst people of the Ó Dálaigh surname, and more than one poet of that surname bore the name Cearbhall. The Cearbhall Óg who composed 'Eileanóir a Rún' was...
(fl. c. 1630); Piaras Feiritéar
Piaras Feiritéar
Piaras Feiritéar was an Irish poet.Feiritéar was a Norman-Irish lord of Baile an Fheirtéaraigh in Corca Dhuibhne. Although best known as a poet, it was his role as a leader of the nascent Catholic Irish community of Norman- and Gaelic- Irish origin which ultimately lead to his execution in...
(1600?–1653); William Connellan
William Connellan
William Connellan, born in Cloonmahon, County Sligo, fl. mid-17th century.Connellan was a harper, who may or may not have composed the tune Caoineach Luimnigh . He was well known in Scotland, where he travelled extensively...
(fl. mid-17th century) and his brother, Thomas Connellan
Thomas Connellan
Thomas Connellan was an Irish composer.Connellan was born about 1640/1645 at Cloonmahon, County Sligo. Both he and his brother, William Connellan became harpers...
(c. 1640/1645–1698), composers; Dominic Ó Mongain
Dominic Ó Mongain
Dominic Ó Mongain was an Irish poet, alive during the 18th century.-Poetry:The poem An raibh túag an gcairraig? is ascribed to Ó Mongain, a poet of County Tyrone. Ó Doibhlin suggests that he may be...
(alive 18th century); Donnchadh Ó Hámsaigh
Donnchadh Ó Hámsaigh
Donnchadh Ó hAmhsaigh, aka Denis Hampsey,aka Denis Hampson Irish harper, 1695 – 5 or 11 November 1807.-Early life and background:Ó hAmhsaigh's was born in Craigmore, County Londonderry in 1695...
(1695–1807); poet and songwriter Eoghan Rua Ó Súilleabháin (1748–1782); Arthur O'Neill
Arthur O'Neill
Arthur Edward Bruce O'Neill , was an Irish Ulster Unionist Party politician who was the first MP to be killed in World War I...
(fl. 1792);Patrick Byrne (musician)
Patrick Byrne (musician)
Patrick Byrne was the last noted exponent in Ireland of the historical Gaelic harp and the first Irish traditional musician to be photographed....
(c.1794-1863); poet and songwriter Colm de Bhailís
Colm de Bhailís
Colm de Bhailís was an Irish poet and songwriter, from Lettermullen, Connemara, Ireland.De Bhailís was a stonemason who travelled extensively throughout Ireland and is believed to have lived for some time in Kilrush, County Clare, and Westport, County Mayo...
(1796–1906).
Traditional music
Irish traditional music includes many kinds of songs, including drinking songs, balladBallad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
s and lament
Lament
A lament or lamentation is a song, poem, or piece of music expressing grief, regret, or mourning.-History:Many of the oldest and most lasting poems in human history have been laments. Laments are present in both the Iliad and the Odyssey, and laments continued to be sung in elegiacs accompanied by...
s, sung unaccompanied or with accompaniment by a variety of instruments. Traditional dance music
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
includes reels
Reel (dance)
The reel is a folk dance type as well as the accompanying dance tune type. In Scottish country dancing, the reel is one of the four traditional dances, the others being the jig, the strathspey and the waltz, and is also the name of a dance figure ....
(4/4), hornpipe
Hornpipe
The term hornpipe refers to any of several dance forms played and danced in Britain and elsewhere from the late 17th century until the present day. It is said that hornpipe as a dance began around the 16th century on English sailing vessels...
s and jig
Jig
The Jig is a form of lively folk dance, as well as the accompanying dance tune, originating in England in the 16th century and today most associated with Irish dance music and Scottish country dance music...
s (the common double jig is in 6/8 time). The polka
Polka
The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...
arrived at the start of the nineteenth century, spread by itinerant dancing masters and mercenary soldiers, returning from Europe. Set dancing may have arrived in the eighteenth century. Later imported dance-signatures include the mazurka
Mazurka
The mazurka is a Polish folk dance in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo, and with accent on the third or second beat.-History:The folk origins of the mazurek are two other Polish musical forms—the slow machine...
and the highlands (a sort of Irished version of the Scottish strathspey
Strathspey (dance)
A strathspey is a type of dance tune in 4/4 time. It is similar to a hornpipe but slower and more stately, and contains many dot-cut 'snaps'. A so-called Scotch snap is a short note before a dotted note, which in traditional playing is generally exaggerated rhythmically for musical expression...
). In the nineteenth century folk instruments would have included the flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
the fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
and the uilleann pipes
Uilleann pipes
The uilleann pipes or //; ) are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland, their current name, earlier known in English as "union pipes", is a part translation of the Irish-language term píobaí uilleann , from their method of inflation.The bag of the uilleann pipes is inflated by means of a...
.
A revival of Irish traditional music took place around the turn of the 20th century. The button accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
and the concertina
Concertina
A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It has a bellows and buttons typically on both ends of it. When pressed, the buttons travel in the same direction as the bellows, unlike accordion buttons which travel perpendicularly to it...
were becoming common. Irish stepdance
Irish stepdance
Irish stepdance is a type of performance dance originated in Ireland from traditional Irish dance, characterised by solo dancers who dance with hands by their sides and upper body stiff, making quick, intricate movements of the feet, often with a troupe. Irish stepdancing was popularized by the...
was performed at céilís
Céilidh
In modern usage, a céilidh or ceilidh is a traditional Gaelic social gathering, which usually involves playing Gaelic folk music and dancing. It originated in Ireland, but is now common throughout the Irish and Scottish diasporas...
, organised competitions and at some country houses where local and itinerant musicians were welcome. Irish dancing was supported by the educational system and patriotic organisations. An older style of singing called sean-nós
Sean-nós song
Sean-nós is a highly ornamented style of unaccompanied traditional Irish singing. It is a sean-nós activity, which also includes sean-nós dancing...
("in the old style"), which is a form of traditional Irish singing
Traditional Irish Singers
Some of the traditional Irish singers alphabetically listed below are known to have sung in both the Irish and English language and if so are listed in both sections below as well known singers of macaronic Irish songs.-Mainly English language songs:...
was still found, mainly for very poetic songs in the Irish language.
From 1820 to 1920 over 4,400,000 Irish emigrated to the USA, creating an Irish diaspora in Chicago (see Francis O'Neill
Francis O'Neill
Francis O'Neill was an Irish-born American police officer and collector of Irish traditional music.O'Neill was born in Tralibane, near Bantry, County Cork. At an early age he heard the music of local musicians, among them Peter Hagarty, Cormac Murphy and Timothy Dowling. At the age of 16, he...
), Boston, New York and other cities. Irish musicians who were successful in the USA made recordings which found their way around the world and re-invigorated musical styles back in the homeland. For example American-based fiddlers like Michael Coleman
Michael Coleman (musician)
-Early years:Michael Coleman was born in Knockgrania, in the rural Killavil district, near Ballymote, County Sligo, Ireland. His father, James Coleman, was from Banada in County Roscommon, and a respected flute player...
, James Morrison
James Morrison (fiddler)
James or Jim Morrison , known as "The Professor", was a notable South Sligo-style Irish fiddler.Morrison was born in 1893 near Riverstown, County Sligo at the townland of Drumfin...
and Paddy Killoran
Paddy Killoran
Paddy Killoran was an Irish musician.Killoran was born near Ballymote, County Sligo, Ireland...
did much to popularise Irish music in the 1920s and 1930s.
After a lull in the 1940s and 1950s, when (except for Céilidh bands
Céilidh
In modern usage, a céilidh or ceilidh is a traditional Gaelic social gathering, which usually involves playing Gaelic folk music and dancing. It originated in Ireland, but is now common throughout the Irish and Scottish diasporas...
) traditional music was at a low ebb, Seán Ó Riada
Seán Ó Riada
Seán Ó Riada , was a composer and perhaps the single most influential figure in the revival of Irish traditional music during the 1960s...
's The Chieftains
The Chieftains
The Chieftains are a Grammy-winning Irish musical group founded in 1962, best known for being one of the first bands to make Irish traditional music popular around the world.-Name:...
, The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, The Irish Rovers
The Irish Rovers
The Irish Rovers is a Canadian Irish folk group created in 1963 and named after the traditional song "The Irish Rover". The group is best known for their international television series, and renditions of traditional Irish drinking songs, as well as early hits, Shel Silverstein's "The Unicorn",...
, The Dubliners
The Dubliners
The Dubliners are an Irish folk band founded in 1962.-Formation and history:The Dubliners, initially known as "The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group", formed in 1962 and made a name for themselves playing regularly in O'Donoghue's Pub in Dublin...
, Ryan's Fancy
Ryan's Fancy
Ryan’s Fancy was a musical group active from the 1960s until the 1980s, all three of whose members were Irish immigrants to Canada.-Early years:...
and Sweeney's Men
Sweeney's Men
Sweeney's Men was an Irish traditional band. They emerged from the late 1960s Irish roots revival, along with groups such as The Dubliners and the Clancy Brothers. The founding line-up in May 1966 was 'Galway Joe' Dolan, Johnny Moynihan and Andy Irvine....
were in large part responsible for a second wave of revitalization of Irish folk music in the 1960s. Several of these were featured in the 2010 TV movie "My Music: When Irish Eyes are Smiling". They were followed by the likes of Planxty
Planxty
Planxty is an Irish folk music band formed in the 1970s, consisting initially of Christy Moore , Dónal Lunny , Andy Irvine , and Liam O'Flynn...
, The Bothy Band
The Bothy Band
The Bothy Band was an Irish traditional band active during the late 1970s. It quickly gained a reputation as one of the most influential bands playing Irish traditional music...
and Clannad in the 70s. Later came such bands as Stockton's Wing
Stockton's Wing
Stockton's Wing is an Irish band formed in 1977 by four All-Ireland champion musicians - Paul Roche flute/whistle, Maurice Lennon fiddle, Tommy Hayes bodhran, and Kieran Hanrahan banjo/mandolin, along with Tony Callinan on guitar and vocals.-Name:...
, De Dannan
De Dannan
De Dannan was an Irish folk music group. They were formed by Frankie Gavin , Alec Finn , Johnny "Ringo" McDonagh and Charlie Piggott as a result of sessions in Hughes's Pub in An Spidéal, County Galway, subsequently inviting Dolores Keane to join the band...
, Altan, Arcady, Dervish
Dervish (band)
Dervish are a traditional Irish music group from County Sligo, Ireland. They were formed in 1989 by Liam Kelly, Shane Mitchell, Martin McGinley, Brian McDonagh and Michael Holmes. The band was originally formed to record an album of local music which was later released as “The Boys of Sligo”. They...
and Patrick Street
Patrick Street
Patrick Street is an Irish folk group.The band was formed in Dublin in 1986 with Kevin Burke on fiddle, Jackie Daly on button accordion, Andy Irvine on bouzouki and vocals, and Arty McGlynn on guitar...
, along with a wealth of individual performers.
Classical music in Ireland
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
arrived in Dublin in 1742 to superintend the first performance of his famous oratorio
Messiah (Handel)
Messiah is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742, and received its London premiere nearly a year later...
. The Passerini and Damici families were favourite performers in Dublin at the operas, concerts and oratorios which were then popular.
Among the next generation of musicians was John Stevenson
John Stevenson (composer)
Sir John Andrew Stevenson was an Irish composer of classical music. He is best known for his publications of Irish Melodies with poet Thomas Moore...
(1761–1833), who is best known for his publications of Irish Melodies with poet Thomas Moore
Thomas Moore
Thomas Moore was an Irish poet, singer, songwriter, and entertainer, now best remembered for the lyrics of The Minstrel Boy and The Last Rose of Summer. He was responsible, with John Murray, for burning Lord Byron's memoirs after his death...
. His works include religious music, catches, glees, odes, operas, songs and symphonies and accompaniments to airs. His contemporaries in the musical field were Michael Kelly and Doctor Carter. John Field
John Field (composer)
John Field was an Irish pianist, composer, and teacher. He was born in Dublin into a musical family, and received his early education there. The Fields soon moved to London, where Field studied under Muzio Clementi...
, who lived in the early Romantic Era has been credited with the creation of the Nocturne form, later developed by Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
. Michael W. Balfe composer of 38 operas for the houses of London, Paris, Milan and Vienna; William Vincent Wallace
William Vincent Wallace
William Vincent Wallace was an Irish composer and musician.-Early life:Wallace was born at Colbeck Street, Waterford, Ireland. Both parents were Irish, his father, of County Mayo, was a regimental bandmaster....
composer of six operas and Charles Villiers Stanford
Charles Villiers Stanford
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford was an Irish composer who was particularly notable for his choral music. He was professor at the Royal College of Music and University of Cambridge.- Life :...
achieved popularity in Europe and the UK during the 19th and early-20th centuries, but success for Irish composers has come primarily from outside the Irish state.
Michele Esposito
Michele Esposito
Michele Esposito was an Italian-born musical composer and pianist who lived most of his professional life in Dublin, Ireland.- Training :Esposito was born at Castellamare di Stabia, near Sorrento...
, a figure of seminal importance in the history of Irish music of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, arrived in Ireland in 1882. He became chief pianoforte professor at the Royal Irish Academy of Music
Royal Irish Academy of Music
The Royal Irish Academy of Music is a linked college of Dublin City University located in Dublin, Ireland.It was founded in 1848 by a group of music enthusiasts and moved to its present address in Westland Row in 1871. The following year it was granted the right to use the title "Royal"...
and remained in Ireland for forty-six years, teaching two generations of musicians and composing notable works. A notable contributor to Irish music since the 1930s was Cork professor of music Aloys Fleischmann
Aloys Fleischmann
Aloys Fleischmann was an Irish composer and musicologist. In addition he wrote several books and articles on Irish music.-Life:...
. Today, the best-known living Irish composer is Gerald Barry whose operatic works have been particularly successful in the UK and Europe.
Performers of note
Performers of classical music of note include Catherine HayesCatherine Hayes
Catherine Hayes [married name Bushnell] was the first Irish-born opera diva to achieve international acclaim....
, (1818–1861) Ireland's first great international prima donna and the first Irish woman to perform at La Scala in Milan; tenor John McCormack (1884–1945), the most celebrated tenor of his day; opera singer Margaret Burke-Sheridan (1889–1958); the concert flautist Sir James Galway and pianist Barry Douglas
Barry Douglas
Barry Douglas OBE is a classical pianist and conductor. He studied piano, cello, clarinet and organ while growing up in Belfast. He first studied in Belfast while attending Methodist College Belfast and, at 16, had lessons with Felicitas LeWinter, a pupil of Emil von Sauer and grand-pupil of...
. Douglas achieved fame in 1986 by claiming the International Tchaikovsky Competition
International Tchaikovsky Competition
The International Tchaikovsky Competition is a classical music competition held every four years in Moscow, Russia for pianists, violinists, and cellists between 16 and 30 years of age, and singers between 19 and 32 years of age...
gold medal. Mezzo-sopranos Bernadette Greevy
Bernadette Greevy
Bernadette Greevy was an Irish mezzo-soprano. She was founder and artistic director of the Anna Livia Dublin International Opera Festival. She was the first artist-in-residence at the Dublin Institute of Technology's Faculty of Applied Arts.-Biography:Bernadette Greevy was born in Clontarf, Dublin...
and Ann Murray
Ann Murray
Ann Murray DBE is an Irish mezzo-soprano. She was born on 27 August 1949, in Dublin. She studied with Frederic Cox at the Royal Manchester College of Music and made her stage debut as Alcestis in Christoph Willibald Gluck's Alceste in 1974...
have also had success internationally.
Choral music
Choral music in Ireland has produced AnúnaAnúna
Anúna is an Irish choral group. In 1987 Dublin composer Michael McGlynn founded An Uaithne, a name which describes the three ancient types of Celtic music, Suantraí , Geantraí and Goltraí . One of the group's stated aims is to explore and redefine this music...
, known for their contribution to Riverdance
Riverdance
Riverdance is a theatrical show consisting of traditional Irish stepdancing, notable for its rapid leg movements while body and arms are kept largely stationary. It originated as an interval performance during the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, a moment that is still considered a significant...
in the early 1990s. They have also been nominated for a Classical Brit Award in the UK and were invited to give the first ever Irish Prom at the BBC Proms series in the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
in 1999. The National Chamber Choir and Resurgam are two important professional choral groups that have begun to make an impact upon the awareness of vocal music beyond that of opera or contemporary popular music, while there are several high-quality church choirs, particularly in Dublin: The Palestrina Choir (St. Mary's Pro-Cathedral), Christ Church Cathedral Choir (Christ Church Cathedral) and St. Patrick's Cathedral Choir.
In the 1980s Shaun Davey
Shaun Davey
- Early years :Shaun Davey was born in Belfast in 1948. He graduated from Trinity College, Dublin in the history of Art in 1971. He then took a master's degree at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. In the late 1970s, he made his first recording, "Davey and Morris," with Donal Lunny and others...
composed The Brendan Voyage
The Brendan Voyage
Shaun Davey's first major orchestral suite which was composed for uilleann pipes played by Liam O'Flynn, depicting Tim Severin’s adventure in reconstructing Saint Brendan’s 6th century Atlantic crossing to America...
, a mix of classical orchestral and Irish traditional styles with the uilleann piper Liam O'Flynn
Liam O'Flynn
Liam O'Flynn is a master uilleann piper and prominent Irish folk musician. In addition to an impressive solo career and his work with the Irish traditional group Planxty, O'Flynn has recorded with many prominent international musical artists, including Mark Knopfler, the Everly Brothers, Enya,...
as the soloist. He continued and expanded this genre with his compositions The Pilgrim
The Pilgrim (1983 album)
In 1983, following the hugely successful performance of Shaun Davey's work The Brendan Voyage the previous year, The Festival Interceltique de Lorient commissioned Shaun to compose The Lorient Festival Suite for orchestra and Celtic soloists representing the seven Celtic countries or regions and...
, Granuaile, and The Relief of Derry Symphony.
Piano Concerto No.1, Guitar Concerto No.1 and the Variations on Bach's Inventions are some of the works of Richard Kearns
Richard Kearns
Richard Kearns is an Irish classical composer.-Biography:Born in North Gloucester Place, Dublin, Ireland, Kearns served an apprenticeship as a Goldsmith and studied part time at "The National College of Art and Design"...
who is another of Ireland's classical composers.
Popular music
Showbands in Ireland
ShowbandsIrish showband
The Irish Showband was a dance band format which was popular in Ireland during the early rock and roll era from mid 1950s to the late 1970s. The showband was based on the internationally popular six or seven piece dance band. The band's basic repertoire included standard dance numbers and cover...
were a major force in Irish popular music, particularly in rural areas, for twenty years from the mid-1950s. The showband played in dance halls and was loosely based on the six or seven piece Dixieland
Dixieland
Dixieland music, sometimes referred to as Hot jazz, Early Jazz or New Orleans jazz, is a style of jazz music which developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century, and was spread to Chicago and New York City by New Orleans bands in the 1910s.Well-known jazz standard songs from the...
dance band. The basic showband repertoire included standard dance numbers, cover versions of pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
hits, ranging from rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
, country and western to jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
standards. Key to the showband's success was the ability to learn and perform songs currently in the record chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
s. They sometimes played Irish traditional
Folk music of Ireland
The folk music of Ireland is the generic term for music that has been created in various genres in Ireland.-History:...
or Céilidh music
Céilidh
In modern usage, a céilidh or ceilidh is a traditional Gaelic social gathering, which usually involves playing Gaelic folk music and dancing. It originated in Ireland, but is now common throughout the Irish and Scottish diasporas...
and a few included self-composed songs.
Country and Irish
- Main article: Country and IrishCountry and IrishCountry and Irish is a musical subgenre in Ireland formed by mixing North American country style music with Irish influences. It is especially popular in the rural Midlands and North-West of the country, but less so in urban areas or in the South-West where more traditional Irish music is favoured...
.
With the rise in popularity of American country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, a new subgenre developed in Ireland known as 'Country and Irish'. It was formed by mixing American Country music with Irish influences, incorporating Irish folk music. This often resulted in traditional Irish songs been sung in a country music style. It is especially popular in the rural Midlands and North-West of the country. It also remains popular among Irish emigrants in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Big Tom and The Mainliners
Big Tom and The Mainliners
Big Tom and The Mainliners are a Country and Irish Showband from the Castleblayney area of County Monaghan, Ireland.-1966-1975:Originally named as "The Mighty Mainliners Showband", the band achieved fame after appearing on RTÉ Television's Showband Show broadcast on 21 May 1966 performing Gentle...
were the first major contenders in this genre, having crossed over from the showband era of the 1960s. Other major artists were Philomena Begley
Philomena Begley
Philomena Begley is an Irish country music singer.-Background:Philomena Begley was born and grew up in Pomeroy Co. Tyrone and worked in a shirt factory in Cookstown before her break into music.-Career:...
and Margo, the latter even being bestowed the unofficial title of Queen of Country & Irish. The most successful performer in the genre today is Daniel O'Donnell
Daniel O'Donnell
Daniel or Danny O'Donnell may refer to:* Daniel O'Donnell, Irish singer* Daniel O'Donnell , American legislator from the state of New York* Danny O'Donnell * Danny O'Donnell...
, who has garnered success in the UK, US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
Fusion
Traditional music played a part in Irish popular music later in the century, with ClannadClannad
Clannad are an Irish musical group, from Gaoth Dobhair, County Donegal. Their music has been variously described as bordering on folk and folk rock, Irish, Celtic and New Age, often incorporating elements of an even broader spectrum of smooth jazz and Gregorian chant...
, Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
, Hothouse Flowers
Hothouse Flowers
The Hothouse Flowers are an Irish rock group that combines traditional Irish music with influences from soul, gospel and rock.-Career:The group first formed in 1985 when Liam Ó Maonlaí and Fiachna Ó Braonáin began performing as street musicians, or buskers, on the streets of Dublin,Ireland as "The...
and Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....
using traditional elements in popular songs. Enya
Enya
Enya is an Irish singer, instrumentalist and songwriter. Enya is an approximate transliteration of how Eithne is pronounced in the Donegal dialect of the Irish language, her native tongue.She began her musical career in 1980, when she briefly joined her family band Clannad before leaving to...
achieved international success with New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
/Celtic fusions. The Pogues
The Pogues
The Pogues are a Celtic punk band, formed in 1982 and fronted by Shane MacGowan. The band reached international prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. MacGowan left the band in 1991 due to drinking problems but the band continued first with Joe Strummer and then with Spider Stacy on vocals before...
, led by Shane MacGowan
Shane MacGowan
Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan is an Irish musician and singer, best known as the original singer and songwriter of The Pogues.-History:...
, helped fuse Irish folk with punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
to some success beginning in the 1980s, while the Afro-Celt Sound System achieved fame adding West African influences and drum n bass in the 1990s while bands such as Kíla
Kíla
Kíla are an Irish folk music/World music group, originally formed in 1987 in the Irish Language secondary school, Coláiste Eoin in Co. Dublin. Kila's blend of Irish traditional music and World Music with a modern rock sensibility is generally credited with breathing new life into contemporary Irish...
fuse traditional Irish with rock and world music representing the Irish tradition at world music festivals across Europe and America. The most notable fusion band in Ireland was Horslips, who combined Irish themes and music with heavy rock.
Riverdance
Riverdance
Riverdance is a theatrical show consisting of traditional Irish stepdancing, notable for its rapid leg movements while body and arms are kept largely stationary. It originated as an interval performance during the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, a moment that is still considered a significant...
is a musical and dancing interval act which originally starred Michael Flatley
Michael Flatley
Michael Ryan Flatley is an American Irish dancer, choreographer, actor, musician and occasional television presenter. He became internationally known for Irish dance shows Riverdance, Lord of the Dance, Feet of Flames, and Celtic Tiger...
and Jean Butler
Jean Butler
Jean Butler , is an Irish American Irish dancer, choreographer, and occasional actress. She is best known for originating the principal female role in the Irish dance company Riverdance.-Personal life and education:...
and featuring the choir Anúna
Anúna
Anúna is an Irish choral group. In 1987 Dublin composer Michael McGlynn founded An Uaithne, a name which describes the three ancient types of Celtic music, Suantraí , Geantraí and Goltraí . One of the group's stated aims is to explore and redefine this music...
. It was performed during the Eurovision Song Contest 1994
Eurovision Song Contest 1994
The Eurovision Song Contest 1994 was the 39th Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 30 April 1994 in the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. The presenters were Cynthia Ní Mhurchú and Gerry Ryan. The pair hosted the evening in French, English and Irish...
. Popular reaction to the act was so immense that an entire musical revue was built around the act.
Pop/Rock
The 1960s saw the emergence of major Irish rock bands and artists, such as ThemThem (band)
Them were a Northern Irish band formed in Belfast in April 1964, most prominently known for the garage rock standard "Gloria" and launching singer Van Morrison's musical career...
, Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
, Emmet Spiceland
Emmet Spiceland
Emmet Spiceland was a band formed when brothers Brian and Michael Byrne of The Spiceland Folk Group joined forces with Donal Lunny, Brian Bolger and Mick Moloney's Emmet Folk Group around 1968, after Mick left the group, forming a quartet....
, Eire Apparent
Eire Apparent
Eire Apparent was a band from Northern Ireland, noted for launching the careers of Henry McCullough and Ernie Graham, and for having Jimi Hendrix play on, and produce, their only album.-The People:...
, Skid Row, Taste
Taste (band)
Taste was an Irish rock and blues band formed in 1966 that gained fame in large part because of their unique style, and the talent and charisma of the band's founder, songwriter and musician Rory Gallagher...
, Rory Gallagher
Rory Gallagher
William Rory Gallagher, ; 2 March 1948 – 14 June 1995, was an Irish blues-rock multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and bandleader. Born in Ballyshannon, County Donegal, Ireland, and raised in Cork, Gallagher recorded solo albums throughout the 1970s and 1980s, after forming the band Taste...
, Dr. Strangely Strange
Dr. Strangely Strange
Dr. Strangely Strange were an experimental Irish folk group, formed in Dublin in 1967 by Tim Booth , vocals and guitar, and Ivan Pawle bass and keyboards.-Career:...
, Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy
Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. Two of the founding members, drummer Brian Downey and bass guitarist/vocalist Phil Lynott met while still in school. Lynott assumed the role of frontman and led them throughout their recording career of thirteen studio albums...
, Mellow Candle
Mellow Candle
Mellow Candle were a progressive folk rock band. Principally Irish, the members were also unusually young, Clodagh Simonds being only 15 and Alison Bools and Maria White 16, and still at school, at the time of their first single, "Feelin' High", released in 1968 on Simon Napier-Bell's SNB...
.
In 1970 Dana
Dana Rosemary Scallon
Dana Rosemary Scallon , known in her singing career simply as Dana, is an Irish singer and former Member of the European Parliament ....
put Ireland on the pop music map by winning Eurovision with her song All Kinds Of Everything
All Kinds Of Everything
"All Kinds of Everything" is a song written by Derry Lindsay and Jackie Smith which as performed by Dana won the Eurovision Song Contest 1970. "All Kinds of Everything" represented a return to the ballad form from the more energetic performances which had dominated Eurovision the previous years...
. She went to number one in the UK and all over Europe and paved the way for many Irish artists. Dana had a number of follow up hits throughout the 70's when she was signed to Decca and the GTO record label, whose artists included Donna Summer, Heatwave and Irish pop groups the Nolan Sisters and the Dooleys. Groups who formed during the emergence of Punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
in the mid-late 1970s included U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
, Virgin Prunes
Virgin Prunes
Virgin Prunes was an Irish gothic rock band formed in 1977. They disbanded in 1986 after the departure of Gavin Friday. The other members continued under the name The Prunes until they split up in 1990.-Career:...
, The Boomtown Rats
The Boomtown Rats
The Boomtown Rats were an Irish punk rock band that had a series of Irish and UK hits between 1977 and 1985. They were led by vocalist Bob Geldof.-Biography:All six members were originally from Dún Laoghaire, Ireland...
, The Undertones
The Undertones
The Undertones are a punk rock/new wave band formed in Derry, Northern Ireland, in 1975.The original line-up of the Undertones released thirteen singles and four studio albums — The Undertones , Hypnotised , Positive Touch and The Sin of Pride — before disbanding in July 1983.Music guide Allmusic...
, Aslan
Aslan (rock band)
Aslan are an Irish rock band from Dublin who formed in 1982. Comprising Christy Dignam, Joe Jewell, Billy McGuinness, Alan Downey and Rodney O'Brien, the band has released five studio albums - Feel No Shame , Goodbye Charlie Moonhead , Here Comes Lucy Jones , Waiting For This Madness To End and...
, Gavin Friday
Gavin Friday
Gavin Friday is an Irish singer and songwriter, composer, actor and painter.-Career:Gavin was born in Dublin and grew up in Finglas, a neighbourhood located on Dublin's Northside...
, and Stiff Little Fingers
Stiff Little Fingers
Stiff Little Fingers are a punk rock band from Belfast, Northern Ireland. They formed in 1977, at the height of the Troubles. They started out as a schoolboy band called Highway Star , doing rock covers, until they discovered punk. They split up after six years and four albums, although they...
. Later in the 80s and into the 90s, Irish punk fractured into new styles of alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
, which included That Petrol Emotion
That Petrol Emotion
That Petrol Emotion are a Northern Irish, London-based band with an American vocalist, Steve Mack.-Career:The band originally formed in 1984 from the ashes of the Derry Hitmakers, Bam Bam and the Calling and The Undertones. It was formed by guitarist John O'Neill and second guitarist Raymond Gorman...
, My Bloody Valentine and Ash
Ash (band)
Ash are an alternative rock band that formed in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland in 1992. The band has sold 8 million albums worldwide.-Band beginning, Trailer and 1977 :...
.
In the 1990s, pop bands like the Corrs
The Corrs
The Corrs are an Irish band which combine pop rock with traditional Celtic folk music. The brother and sisters are from Dundalk, Ireland. The group consists of the Corr siblings: Andrea ; Sharon ; Caroline ; and Jim .The Corrs came to international prominence with their performance at the...
, B*Witched, Boyzone
Boyzone
Boyzone are an Irish boy band comprising Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham, Ronan Keating,Shane Lynch, and formerly Stephen Gately. Boyzone have 19 singles in the top 40 UK charts and 21 singles in the Ire charts. The group currently have 6 UK number one singles and 9 number one singles in Ireland with 12...
, Westlife
Westlife
Westlife are an Irish boy band established on 3 July 1998. They are to disband in 2012. The group's line-up was Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan, and Brian McFadden . The group are the only act in British and Irish history to have their first seven singles peak at number one...
and The Cranberries
The Cranberries
The Cranberries are an Irish rock band formed in Limerick in 1989 under the name The Cranberry Saw Us, later changed by vocalist Dolores O'Riordan. The band currently consists of O'Riordan, guitarist Noel Hogan, bassist Mike Hogan and drummer Fergal Lawler...
emerged. In the same decade, Ireland also contributed a subgenre of folk metal
Folk metal
Folk metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. As the name suggests, the genre is a fusion of heavy metal with traditional folk music...
known as Celtic metal
Celtic metal
Celtic metal is a subgenre of folk metal that developed in the 1990s in Ireland. As the name suggests, the genre is a fusion of heavy metal music and Celtic music. The early pioneers of the genre were the three Irish bands Cruachan, Primordial and Waylander...
with exponents of the genre including Cruachan
Cruachan (band)
Cruachan [kroo-a-khawn] is a Celtic metal band from Dublin, Ireland that has been active since the 1990s. They have been acclaimed as having "gone the greatest lengths of anyone in their attempts to expand" the genre of folk metal. They are recognised as one of the founders of the genre of folk metal...
, Primordial
Primordial (band)
Primordial is an extreme metal band from Skerries, County Dublin, Ireland. It was formed in 1987 by Pól MacAmlaigh and Ciarán MacUiliam . Their sound melds black metal with Irish folk music.-Biography:...
, Skyclad
Skyclad (band)
Skyclad are a British heavy metal band with heavy folk influences in their music. They are considered one of the pioneers of folk metal. The etymology behind the term "skyclad" comes from a pagan/wiccan term for ritual nudity, in which rituals are performed with the participants metaphorically clad...
, Geasa
Geasa (band)
Geasa is a Celtic metal band originating from Dublin, Ireland. Formed by Fergal Purcell and John Kavanagh in 1993 the band combines traditional Celtic music with black metal to form Celtic black metal. They have released one demo album, one EP, and three full-length albums.They came onto the scene...
and Waylander
Waylander (band)
Waylander is a Northern Irish band influential in the realms of Celtic folk metal. Formed in 1993, the band blends traditional Irish folk with 1990s heavy metal.-Biography:...
.
Other artists well-known as popular music performers include Paddy Casey
Paddy Casey
Patrick "Paddy" Casey is an Irish singer-songwriter from Dublin. Paddy was discovered by Sony A&R Scout Hugh Murray at the International Bar in Dublin, while performing at the singer/songwriter night hosted by Dave Murphy...
, Jack L, Declan O'Rourke
Declan O'Rourke
Declan O'Rourke is a 33 year old platinum record singer/songwriter from Dublin, Ireland.-Career:At the age of 13, when living in Australia with his family, O'Rourke was given his first guitar by a priest in Kyabram who recognised his potential and love for music, hence the title of his debut album...
, Jerry Fish & The Mudbug Club
Jerry Fish & The Mudbug Club
Jerry Fish & The Mudbug Club is an independent alternative band from Ireland.Jerry Fish is the alter ego of musician and record producer Gerard Whelan who founded an independent record label and the band Jerry Fish & The Mudbug Club, an eclectic, roots collective of musicians, friends and songs...
, Phil Coulter
Phil Coulter
Phil Coulter is an artist with an international reputation as a successful songwriter, pianist, music producer, arranger and director. His success has spanned four decades and he is one of the biggest record sellers in Ireland...
, Dolores Keane
Dolores Keane
Dolores Keane is an Irish folk singer and occasional actress. She was a founding member of the successful group De Dannan, and has since embarked on a very successful solo career, establishing herself as one of the most loved interpreters of Irish song.-Background:Keane was born in a small village...
, Damien Rice
Damien Rice
Damien Rice is an Irish singer-songwriter, musician and record producer who plays guitar, piano, clarinet and percussion....
, Damien Dempsey
Damien Dempsey
Damien Dempsey is an Irish singer and songwriter who mixes traditional Irish folk with contemporary lyrics to deliver social comment on the positive and negative aspects arising from Ireland's Celtic Tiger society.-Early life:...
, Eleanor McEvoy
Eleanor McEvoy
Eleanor McEvoy is one of Ireland's most accomplished contemporary singer/songwriters. McEvoy composed the song Only A Woman's Heart, title track of A Woman's Heart, the best-selling Irish album in Irish history.-Biography:...
, Finbar Wright
Finbar Wright
Edward Finbar Wright , known popularly as Finbar Wright, is a popular music singer, songwriter, poet from County Cork, Ireland....
, Maura O'Connell
Maura O'Connell
Maura O'Connell is an Irish singer and actress. She is known for her contemporary interpretations of Irish folk songs, strongly influenced by American country music.-Background:...
, Frances Black
Frances Black
Frances Black is an award-winning Irish singer. A pure vocal tone and an energetic stage presence has made Black one of Ireland’s most popular singers...
, Sharon Shannon
Sharon Shannon
Sharon Shannon is an Irish musician. She is best known for her work with the accordion and for her fiddle technique. She also plays the tin whistle and melodeon. Her 1991 album Sharon Shannon is the best selling album of traditional Irish music ever released there...
, Mary Black
Mary Black
Mary Black is an Irish singer. She is well known as an interpreter of both folk and contemporary material which has made her a major recording artist in her native Ireland, and in many other parts of the world....
, The Frames
The Frames
The Frames are an Irish band based in Dublin. Founded in 1990 by Glen Hansard, the band has been influential in the Dublin rock music scene. The group has released six albums...
and Stockton's Wing
Stockton's Wing
Stockton's Wing is an Irish band formed in 1977 by four All-Ireland champion musicians - Paul Roche flute/whistle, Maurice Lennon fiddle, Tommy Hayes bodhran, and Kieran Hanrahan banjo/mandolin, along with Tony Callinan on guitar and vocals.-Name:...
.
Since the 2000s the music industry is continuing to grow with well established acts such as Snow Patrol
Snow Patrol
Snow Patrol are an alternative rock band from Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland. Formed at the University of Dundee in 1994 as an indie rock band, the band is now based in Glasgow...
, The Coronas
The Coronas
The Coronas are an Irish rock and indie band. They have released three studio albums, Heroes or Ghosts , Tony Was An Ex-Con and "Closer to You"...
, Bell X1, Julie Feeney
Julie Feeney
Julie Feeney, award-winning Irish composer, song-writer, singer and music producer.-Overview:Feeney is an award-winning and critically acclaimed Irish composer, singer, record producer, musician, songwriter, theatre artist and educator. She composes both instrumental and electronic music, and...
, The Thrills
The Thrills
The Thrills are an Irish rock band, formed in 2001 in Dublin, Ireland. The band was founded by lead vocalist Conor Deasy and guitarist Daniel Ryan, guitarist and bass player Padraic McMahon, pianist Kevin Horan and drummer Ben Carrigan. Their big break came with their debut album, So Much for the...
, Gemma Hayes
Gemma Hayes
Gemma Claire Hayes is an Irish singer-songwriter and member of The Cake Sale.-Early life:...
, Villagers
Villagers (band)
Villagers are an Irish band fronted by Conor J. O'Brien.They have performed at several music festivals and toured with Tracy Chapman, Bell X1, Tindersticks and Elbow. They have one EP, titled Hollow Kind...
, The Script, Codes
Codes (band)
Codes are an Irish indie electronic quartet from Dublin, consisting of Daragh Anderson, Eoin Stephens, Paul Reilly and Raymond Hogge. Their debut album Trees Dream in Algebra was nominated for the 2010 Choice Music Prize...
, The Blizzards
The Blizzards
The Blizzards are an Irish band from Mullingar in County Westmeath. They were formed by Niall Breslin in late 2004, and also feature Dec Murphy , Justin Ryan, Anthony Doran and Aidan Lynch...
, and The Answer
The Answer (band)
The Answer are a Northern Irish hard rock and blues-rock band from Newcastle and Downpatrick, County Down, Northern Ireland. They have achieved success with their debut album Rise selling in excess of 30,000 copies in the UK & Europe, 10,000 on day one in Japan and 100,000 worldwide.-Lineup:*Cormac...
.
Top 5 biggest selling Irish acts of all time
| Irish acts | Sold | Genre | Years active | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. U2 U2 U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music... |
170 Million + | Rock Rock music Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music... |
1976–Present (33 Years) | |
| 2. Enya Enya Enya is an Irish singer, instrumentalist and songwriter. Enya is an approximate transliteration of how Eithne is pronounced in the Donegal dialect of the Irish language, her native tongue.She began her musical career in 1980, when she briefly joined her family band Clannad before leaving to... |
80 Million + | Celtic Celtic music Celtic music is a term utilised by artists, record companies, music stores and music magazines to describe a broad grouping of musical genres that evolved out of the folk musical traditions of the Celtic people of Western Europe... /New Age New Age music New Age music is music of various styles intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation, and optimism. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management or to create a peaceful atmosphere in their home or other environments, and is often... |
1986–Present (22 Years) | |
| 3. Van Morrison Van Morrison Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely... |
55 Million + | Soul Soul music Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of... |
1967–Present (40 Years) | |
| 4. The Cranberries The Cranberries The Cranberries are an Irish rock band formed in Limerick in 1989 under the name The Cranberry Saw Us, later changed by vocalist Dolores O'Riordan. The band currently consists of O'Riordan, guitarist Noel Hogan, bassist Mike Hogan and drummer Fergal Lawler... |
50 Million + | Rock Rock music Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music... |
1990–2003, 2009–Present (13 Years) | |
| 5. Westlife Westlife Westlife are an Irish boy band established on 3 July 1998. They are to disband in 2012. The group's line-up was Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan, and Brian McFadden . The group are the only act in British and Irish history to have their first seven singles peak at number one... |
44 Million + | Pop Pop music Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop... |
1998 – present (13 Years) | |
Top 5 'most standout' Irish acts of all time
In 2010, PRS for Music conducted research to show which five IrishIrish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
musicians or bands
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
the public considered to be the 'most standout'. U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
topped the list with sixty-eight percent while Westlife
Westlife
Westlife are an Irish boy band established on 3 July 1998. They are to disband in 2012. The group's line-up was Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan, and Brian McFadden . The group are the only act in British and Irish history to have their first seven singles peak at number one...
, Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
, Boyzone
Boyzone
Boyzone are an Irish boy band comprising Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham, Ronan Keating,Shane Lynch, and formerly Stephen Gately. Boyzone have 19 singles in the top 40 UK charts and 21 singles in the Ire charts. The group currently have 6 UK number one singles and 9 number one singles in Ireland with 12...
and The Cranberries
The Cranberries
The Cranberries are an Irish rock band formed in Limerick in 1989 under the name The Cranberry Saw Us, later changed by vocalist Dolores O'Riordan. The band currently consists of O'Riordan, guitarist Noel Hogan, bassist Mike Hogan and drummer Fergal Lawler...
came in 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th, respectively. The research also suggested that the 'top-five' had sold over 341 million albums up to March 2010.
| Irish act | Percent | Genre |
|---|---|---|
| 1. U2 U2 U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music... |
68 | Rock Rock music Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music... |
| 2. Westlife Westlife Westlife are an Irish boy band established on 3 July 1998. They are to disband in 2012. The group's line-up was Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan, and Brian McFadden . The group are the only act in British and Irish history to have their first seven singles peak at number one... |
10.5 | Pop Pop music Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop... |
| 3. Van Morrison Van Morrison Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely... |
10 | Soul Soul music Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of... |
| 4. Boyzone Boyzone Boyzone are an Irish boy band comprising Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham, Ronan Keating,Shane Lynch, and formerly Stephen Gately. Boyzone have 19 singles in the top 40 UK charts and 21 singles in the Ire charts. The group currently have 6 UK number one singles and 9 number one singles in Ireland with 12... |
7.5 | Pop Pop music Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop... |
| 5. The Cranberries The Cranberries The Cranberries are an Irish rock band formed in Limerick in 1989 under the name The Cranberry Saw Us, later changed by vocalist Dolores O'Riordan. The band currently consists of O'Riordan, guitarist Noel Hogan, bassist Mike Hogan and drummer Fergal Lawler... |
4 | Rock Rock music Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music... |
See also
- Celtic musicCeltic musicCeltic music is a term utilised by artists, record companies, music stores and music magazines to describe a broad grouping of musical genres that evolved out of the folk musical traditions of the Celtic people of Western Europe...
- Sean-nós songSean-nós songSean-nós is a highly ornamented style of unaccompanied traditional Irish singing. It is a sean-nós activity, which also includes sean-nós dancing...
- LiltingLiltingLilting is a form of traditional singing common in the Gaelic speaking areas of Ireland and Scotland. It goes under many names, and is sometimes referred to as "mouth music", diddling, jigging, chin music or cheek music), puirt a beul in Scottish Gaelic, Canterach, or portaireacht bhéil in Irish...
- Irish traditional music sessionIrish traditional music sessionIrish traditional music sessions are mostly informal gatherings at which people play Irish traditional music. The Irish language word for "session" is seisiún...
- List of Irish ballads
- Irish rebel musicIrish rebel musicIrish rebel music is a subgenre of Irish folk music, with much the same instrumentation, but with lyrics predominantly concerned with Irish republicanism.-History:...
- List of Irish musicians
- List of All-Ireland Champions
- List of Irish music collectors
- List of artists who reached number one in Ireland
- List of songs that reached number one on the Irish Dance Chart
- List of songs that reached number one on the Irish Singles Chart
- One Hit Wonders in Ireland
- Top selling singles and albums in Ireland
Sources
- Vallely, Fintan. "The Companion to Irish Traditional Music" Cork University Press, ISBN 1 85918 148 1
- Carson, Ciaran. Irish Traditional Music. Appletree Press ISBN 0-86281-168-6
- O'Connor, Nuala. "Dancing at the Virtual Crossroads". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, pp 170–188. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0
- Mathieson, Kenny. "Ireland". 2001. In Mathieson, Kenny (Ed.), Celtic music, pp. 10–53. Backbeat Books. ISBN 0-87930-623-8
- Carson, Ciaran. "Last Night's Fun", Jonathan Cape ISBN 0-224-04141-X
- Geoff Wallis and Sue Wilson "The Rough Guide to Irish Music" ISBN 1-85828-642-5
- Barra Boydell: Music and Paintings in the National Gallery of Ireland, 1985, ISBN 0-903162-22-9
- Walsh, Basil; Michael W. Balfe; A Unique Victorian Composer ISBN 978-0-7165-2947-7 www.britishandirishworld.com
- Walsh, Basil; Catherine Hayes; The Hibernian (Irish) Prima Donna, ISBN 0-7165-2662-X
External links
Audio clips: Traditional music of Ireland. Musée d'Ethnographie de Genève. Accessed November 25, 2010.- A History of Irish Music, by W. H. Flood
- Contemporary Music Centre, Dublin Ireland's national resource and archive centre for contemporary Irish classical music.
- Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann A global movement promoting Irish traditional music and culture
- The Journal of Music in Ireland Ireland's bi-monthly music magazine: reviews, interviews, in-depth articles, sessions
- TheSession.org an online tune database and discussion site for adherents of Irish Traditional Music
- IRMA.ie - The Irish Recorded Music Association
- BreakingTunes.com Arts Council of Ireland Website that specializes in the promotion of contemporary Irish Music.
- Ni Band list Full list of bands in Northern Ireland.
- Music of Ireland - Welcome Home 2010 documentary film charting the development of Irish music and its influnece worldwide.
- TradTune.com Online database of traditional celtic tunes with many from Ireland.