FinishMySong Blog

In the almost twelve years since I was last in the Republic of Ireland some things have changed quite dramatically. Certainly, the towns and cities have been hungry over the last decade or so and have consumed large quantities of the Emerald Isle’s aptly named ‘greenbelt’ land, reaching out to one another with new housing and industrial developments and with larger, wider and busier roads than ever before.

But, despite the onslaught of global progress that has explicitly affected this small country, there is a certain je ne sais quai here that remains totally untouched. The people continue to be some of the friendliest and most helpful I have come across anywhere and there remains a culture that the people of this Irish nation have every reason to be proud of.

Among many others, one very noticeable facet of the Irish mindset is their relationship to music – specifically, music of traditional Irish origin. The vast majority of the pubs and bars that I visited in Co Kerry’s bustling little tourist town, Killarney, supported some kind of live music on at least one evening of the week, and speaking to some of the locals I was told that this is the case for most of the other 70-odd establishments there, and indeed the same in very many of the villages, towns and cities across the country.

The big difference here, of course, isn’t that the owners of these bars spend a great deal of time or money to attract musicians and audiences, but rather that the concert culture of the majority of the Western world simply doesn’t exist in these venues. That is to say that the split between audience and musician is much less defined – people who are able to play or sing are usually free to do so, whether in an organised, coordinated way or not. Many of the groups that perform in these (often very small) pubs simply sit around one of the tables with their instruments out, a microphone hanging from a cable above them, and get down to playing music for the sheer pleasure of being involved and because that’s just what they do! Others who know the songs sing or play along, sometimes with the band and sometimes by getting up and doing something separately. So, the act of playing, singing and listening to local music becomes a natural part of being in the social setting of a pub or club.

I think there is a slight downside to all this : that there will always be performers who perhaps are not terribly accomplished musicians – bands playing that just don’t quite meet the grade. But, then again, the very meaning of this genre of music is surely strongly related to participation for all; an Irish tradition of the learning and relearning of songs for anyone who is interested in being involved. Personally, I think it’s fantastic and a shame that many other Northern European countries don’t embrace this type of musical venture.