International Music Resources by Country: Ireland

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Ireland consists of 26 of the 32 historic counties that comprise the island of Ireland. The remaining six counties, in the north-east, form Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. Ireland lies in the north-east Atlantic Ocean, about 80 km (50 miles) west of Great Britain. The climate is mild and equable. The warmest month is July, when the average temperature is 15°C (59°F), and the coldest is January, with an average temperature of 5.1°C (41°F). Irish (Gaeilge) is the official first language, but its use as the predominant vernacular is now restricted to certain areas, collectively known as the Gaeltacht, mainly in the west of Ireland. English is the second official language and is almost universally spoken. The majority of the inhabitants profess Christianity: some 78% of the population are Roman Catholics. The national flag (proportions 1 by 2) consists of three equal vertical stripes, of green, white and orange. The capital is Dublin. The vast majority of the population profess Christianity, some 78.3% being Roman Catholics and 2.7% Protestants.

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Traditional Music

Traditional Irish music is of rural more than urban origin, a reflection of an earlier population distribution, but many items and forms of the repertory have come from towns and cities, or through them from abroad. The bulk of the current repertory, including that of Irish-language song, originated in the 18th and 19th centuries. A large body of songs in English were composed on English and Gaelic models, and texts were circulated on ballad sheets as well as orally. Being largely the music of non-professionals, traditional music is normally performed during leisure hours at night, weekends and during holiday periods.

Narrative and lyric songs are both plentifully supplied in the English language. The oldest form of these, the imported British classical ballad, has almost disappeared, but there is a large surviving body of later songs created in Ireland with distinct Hiberno-English roots that incorporate Gaelic features such as internal assonance. The songs of both languages are strophic, metrically uniform and in accented metres, often with an alternating verse and chorus. In performance both languages are sometimes heard on the same occasion, and there are a few macaronic songs that alternate between languages. Stylistic differences arise from regional and personal differences, not from languages or genres. 

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Instrumental Music

Almost all types of Irish dance music share a common symmetrical structure. Tunes usually consist of two parts, one lower in pitch (the ‘tune’) followed by a higher (the ‘turn’). The main types of dance music in order of popularity are the reel, jig and hornpipe, all of which can be played for solo dancers, groups of dancers or for listeners. Less common are the polka and slide, which are played for group dancing, and the set dance, played for solo dancing. There is no musical connection between a tune and its title (or titles), if it is titled at all. Song airs are named from the title of the Irish or English song lyrics with which they are associated. The primary musical instruments are international melody instruments, some of which have developed specifically Irish forms: wind instruments, such as the pipes, whistle and flute; string instruments, especially the fiddle, but also the banjo and mandolin; and free-reed instruments, such as the accordion, concertina and harmonica. Percussion instruments were not played much until recently. 

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