NOT YER GRANNY'S MUSIC - NEW SOUNDS FROM IRELAND!

There is so much good music coming out of Ireland today, it sometimes makes the head spin.

Not so long ago Scotland was ruling the Celtic roost with such melodic, beat-driven bands as Runrig, Peatbog Faeries and Beluga Lagoon among others.

 

Now I have only to open emails and out will pour mp3s of new Irish artists of merit such as Amble, Kingfishr, Bog Bodies, Poor Creatures, Maggie Carty, Chasing Abbey, Tolu Makay, Cardinals, Lemoncello, JigJam et al.

 

When you add these to already somewhat established artists such as Fontaines DC, Lankum, Lisa O’Neill, The Mary Wallopers, Kneecap, and Jiggy, it makes for a great mixed bag to choose from for my weekly Celtic Crush show on SiriusXM.

 

Why this sudden burst of Irish talent, you might ask?

 

Well, Ireland is now a self-confident European nation, no longer an isolated island looking for its influences from the US or UK.

 

It hasn’t hurt that the UK shot itself in the foot by pursuing its own cultural isolation with Brexit, or that a fatigued US is succumbing to the xenophobic charms of Donald Trump and his Know-Nothing notions.

 

Ireland has won some major battles of its own – peace and ongoing reconciliation in the North, and a displacement of religion from the halls of government to its proper place in the church and home.

 

The people themselves have changed  and exude a new self-confidence. Not the cocky, money-grubbing aggression of the Celtic Tiger era, but a quiet inner-belief that is pleasant, and even inspiring to be around.

 

Where did that come from? 

 

I’d give a lot of credit to individuals like Rory Gallagher, Roy Keane, Bono, Bernadette Devlin-McAliskey, and so many women in the North and South who refused to be silent or settle for second-best.

 

A tip of the cap also to Ireland’s diplomatic corps who have quietly, but confidently, advanced Ireland’s name and interests abroad.

 

But back to music! Fontaines DC (for Dublin City) are arguably the best new rock band in the world. From the first chords of their first song of note, Boys in the Better Land, I knew they had it - whatever “it” is.

 

Their singer/lyricist Grian Chatten is a showman par excellence and is prolific, even in the midst of budding superstardom he puts out tasteful solo work.

 

It’s impossible to define Lisa O’Neill, except that this Cavan woman was influenced early on by the street singer/traveler Margaret Barry. Her songs such as Old Note are touching and deep, yet uplifting at the same time.

 

The Mary Wallopers from Dundalk could well be a new Pogues, although that would be selling them short. Deeply influenced by Traditional Music, they turn it on its ear. They haven’t, as yet, written a classic, but when they interpret a song, that’s the version I hear in my head. Listen to The Frost Is All Over. 

 

Have you noticed something? Most of the music I’ve mentioned is made by culchies. And the plot continues to thicken.

 

I often think of Amble and Kingfishr in the same breath. Three strapping, but sensitive, males in each band, a lead singer with a strong, rich voice emoting loss and redemption to restrained guitar chords. 

 

And yet each band makes you stop and think in a way that American singer/songwriters rarely do nowadays. I think that’s because their songs are distinctly drawn from modern Irish life. Try Amble’s Lonely Island and Kingfishr’s Shot in the Dark.

 

How would you describe Bog Bodies? Well, they were formed by an archeologist, Dan Maher, from the depths of rural Tipperary. This is heavy folk unlike Amble or Kingfishr, the Bodies have created a sound all their own, driven and darkly mystical with very well-constructed songs. Try Toward The Harvest and then hit the boards with Dead Are Dancing.

 

Chasing Abbey from Tullamore has a seductive way of getting into your head. They employ looped beats, and rap above them often to a Trad-influenced banjo line. Listen to Arís is Arís and you’ll find yourself returning to it again and again.

 

If you’re looking for rural accents, these culchies do not stint and it’s refreshing. They’re loud and proud, and more importantly, authentic. 

 

They’re not singing about your granny’s Ireland but of a new confident, cosmopolitan island. Take it or leave it.

REBEL GIRL AND THE LEGEND OF THE WOBBLIES

 

“Make America Great Again.” I’ve often wondered, to what era our president is referring? 

 

The 1950’s springs to mind but back then the US had its highest ever percentage of unionized workers – hardly “greatness” in Mr. Trump’s eyes.

 

He has been touting the Gilded Age of late: “We were at our richest from 1870 to 1913...” What he’s saying is that a wealthy oligarchy lived off the fat of the land, while many Americans subsisted in relative poverty.

 

And oh, were there immigrants in the Gilded Age! They streamed in from all over the planet, adding to the many millions who had arrived since the 1840’s.

 

Who cared for these “great unwashed?” Churches and fraternal organizations did their best, but ultimately labor unions were the beacons of hope for the striving masses.

 

In most cases Federal and State governments worked hand in glove with the oligarchy. 

 

The 1914 Ludlow, Colorado massacre of mine workers and their families by the state militia and the “Pinkerton goons” hired by John D. Rockefeller is a prime example. The striking miners were merely seeking to exercise their state-mandated right to join a union.

 

In many ways union leaders and their members were the real heroes of the Gilded Age. Most are forgotten now, no museums or foundations named in their honor. 

 

But the International Workers of the World (IWW), commonly known as the Wobblies, will always be remembered – probably because the US Government perceived the union as an existential threat and set J. Edgar Hoover, a 22 year old ex-librarian, to destroy it. 

 

The IWW was formed in 1905 by Big Bill Haywood, James Connolly, and Mother Jones among others and continues to this day, although in a much diminished form.

 

Their mantra and aim was OBU (One Big Union). They welcomed all workers including immigrants, African-Americans, women, and Asians and accepted both craft and unskilled wage earners.

 

They were a thorn in the side of such oligarchs as J.P. Morgan, Henry C. Frick (yep, he of the museum), and the aforementioned Rockefeller.

 

The IWW’s inclusive approach suited the social and political turmoil of the early 20^th Century.

 

There was a huge floating labor force that could be hired or fired at the whim of employers. This often led to wage cuts amid competition for jobs.

 

The Wobblies waded into this morass, their union halls sprouted up all over the country. Most halls provided a piano, brass instruments, vats of soup, English lessons and a mailing address for the mostly itinerant workers.

 

Swedish immigrant and Wobbly diehard, Joe Hill wrote songs of satire about the bosses, and anthems of solidarity for the workers that were sung across the land.

 

In many localities unions were forbidden to hold public meetings. The Wobblies challenged this denial of a basic right - as soon as one speaker was arrested another would step up on his soapbox, until the jails were packed and the courts clogged. Thus was free speech regained throughout the West.

 

While imprisoned in Spokane, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn publicized the common practice of jailers hiring out women prisoners as prostitutes and that practice ended.

 

The Rebel Girl was everywhere in those days; she, Margaret (Higgins) Sanger and Italian anarchist, Carlo Tresca were among the leaders of the successful 1912 Bread and Roses strike in Lawrence, MA, a hallmark in the battle against rampant child employment in America’s mills and mines.

 

But the tide turned against them in 1917 with the entry of the US into World War 1 and the ensuing Red Scare. 

 

The Federal Government resented the IWW’s resistance to the military draft and suspected that One Big Union might eventually evolve into a worker’s political party.

 

Most of the Wobbly leadership was sentenced to long prison sentences under the wartime Espionage Act as repression was unleashed nationally.

 

With James Connolly having been executed in Ireland, Joe Hill in Salt Lake City, Big Jim Larkin imprisoned in Sing Sing, the Wobblies began to lose their appeal and impact.

 

With a head for facts and figures and a never ending supply of index cards, J. Edgar Hoover collated law-enforcement information nationwide. This he used to devastating effect in prosecuting the IWW leadership, leaving us with a tantalizing question: Could One Big Union have morphed into an American version of the British Labor Party? 

 

We’ll never know but the legend of the Wobblies lives on.

 

 

Rebel Girl, a musical by Larry Kirwan, will receive its first staged readings on Sept. 27 at 2:30pm and 7pm at The Arthur Laurents Theatre, NBPAC, New Brunswick, NJ. Some tickets will be reserved for Irish Echo readers. Contact Tom Marlow at blackfortyseven@aol.com stating preference for which show. Tickets are free but admission by invite only.