The Making of Irish Traditional Music - Hardcover

O'Shea, Helen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1859184367 ISBN 13: 9781859184363

Publisher: Cork University Press, 2009

Synopsis

The first critical study of Irish traditional music, The Making of Irish Traditional Music draws on the author's observations and participation as a musician. It analyzes the experiences of foreigners playing Irish music at summer schools, where they encounter the tourism industry's "Ireland of the Welcomes", and in the heart of Ireland's traditional music empire, County Clare. The book concludes that a view of Irish traditional music as expressive of an ethnically pure, geographically bound, masculine, national culture is an inadequate basis for a multi-ethnic Irish society.

About this title

About the Author

Helen O'Shea is a Research Fellow at Monash University, Australia

Review

"An exploration of the many threads in the formation of Ireland's "musical identity," this book provides a historical overview of Irish traditional music and addresses such topics as cultural nationalism, conceptions of "authenticity," local and regional variations, gender issues, and the anatomy of the pub session. O'Shea also discusses influential musicians and significant recordings, supporting her analysis with the persaonl views and experiences of a large number of musicians. In addition to her academic credentials, the Australian-born O'Shea, herself of Irish descent, brings to the discussion her valuable perspective as an experienced fiddle player of Irish traditional music. Although O'Shea's affection for Irish music is evident, it doe not prevent her from taking a clear-eyed critical approach to the topic. Including a useful list of 34 musical examples and a sizable bibliography of nearly 400 titles, this informative, thought-provoking study is an excellent addition to the existing literature on Irish music. Summing Up: Highly Recommended." (Choice)

"Combines historical discussion with an ethnographic account of the experiencese of foreigners learning to play Irish music at summer schools in County Clare." (The Chronicle of Higher Education)

“The Making of Irish Traditional Music provides a valuable, theoretically informed cultural history of the retrieval and codification of Irish music in the context of an emergent Irish nationalism. It offers a valuable critique of notions of identity and authenticity at the very inner sanctum of an essential mode of Irish self-expression, but does so with considerable sensitivity to the pressures that draw people to adhere to notions of ethnic or national identity. The historical dimension of this work, from Bunting in the late eighteenth century and O'Neill in the late nineteenth to the emergence of independent state cultural institutions and their effect on the formation of ‘traditional’ and official versions of Irish music, is one of the very best continuous accounts available.” (David Lloyd, Professor of English)

“Helen O’Shea’s The Making of Irish Traditional Music is a breath of fresh air in the growing literature on music inIreland. The debate it will provoke will itself form a part of the great wild yell of Irish traditional music in a new century.” (Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, Composer, Performer and Professor of Music)

Edition details

• Publisher: Cork University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1859184367
• ISBN 13: 9781859184363
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 236