Many of the deepest roots of American popular music are Anglo-Celtic, and we can hear some things in Irish traditional music that we'll meet again in America. We'll trace one or two of them by watching some Irish folk music and seeing how some of its features show up in 21st-century popular music. What changes as the music crosses from folk to popular styles? What remains? What is lost? What is gained?
First, this YouTube clip of a young Irish girl singing a Gaelic song in the "sean nos" (old style) manner shows how our vocal music began. Notice how matter-of-fact and unemotional her expression is, like that of a ballad singer, and listen for the quality of her voice. Sean nos singers tense up the mouth as they sing, and their throat muscles are tight. This is the authentic style of traditional Irish singing as it has come down over hundreds of years. Notice how proud the older man (her grandfather?) is that this young kid is carrying on the tradition. The language is Gaelic.
A more popular Irish singer is Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh (her name is pronounced like Murin Nick'olive) of the band Danu. Link here to her home page and to her MySpace page. In this clip from the Comhaltas traditional music website she sings “An Spealadóir” (a West Kerry song) and plays two reels, “The Caucus” and “The Wind That Shakes The Barley.” She is backed by Michelle Mulcahy on accordion and Billy McGlynn on bouzouki. Do the two instrumental numbers remind you of American old-time string band music?
A review in the electronic magazine Rootsworld says Nic Amhlaoibh has "steered [her band] in a more accessible, if less daring, direction" and "possesses a clear, pleasant, and steady voice suited to both traditional and MOR soft rock tunes." In other words, she's a crossover artist. She sings in folk and popular styles alike. Compare her singing to the descriptions of folk and popular music in the handout from Daniel Kingman I gave you in class.
Another band that has made Irish traditional music very popular is called the Chieftans. In this YouTube clip they play the "Dublin Reels" for Irish step dancers. This is a very traditional combination of music and dance, although the movie and dance troupe Riverdance crossed over into pop music several years ago. Notice how stiff the dancers' upper bodies are and how intricate the footwork is.
Thursday:
Another type of Irish traditional music is featured by Sinead O´Connor, seen here with the Chieftans rehearsing "The Foggy Dew," a song of the Easter Rebellion in 1916, for an album released in the 1990s. Click on "More info" to see the lyrics. Since O'Connor is singing in English, you can hear another feature of sean nos singing -- the way she bends words like "city" so it sounds like "c-i-i-ty" or "Their armed lines" like "The-ir ar-r-med lines." It's called ornamentation, and you'll hear it again in American singing. How does O'Connor's singing style compare with Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh's? With the traditional sean nos singer we heard first? Is she more emotional? More expressive?
Finally, we'll listen to Emmylou Harris and The Chieftains singing an Irish lyric song called "Lambs on the Green Hills" in concert in Nashville, Tenn. (It's also on the CD "Further Down the Old Plank Road," an album featuring the Chieftans and U.S. country musicians in Nashville.) Click here for the lyrics as printed in Padraic Colum, ed. "Anthology of Irish Verse" (1922). Harris is an accomplished professional whose songs have been on the country, folk and alt. country charts more more than 30 years. How does her style compare to a more traditional folk singer's? Listen for ornamentation, expressiveness, emotion
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