It’s possible to trace the stereotyping of contemporary Irish music back to two sources. The first of these is the unexpected success of Clannad’s Theme from Harry’s Game, which became the reference point for all things “haunting” for the next decade. This led to Enya, one-time Clannad member, producing an inexplicably successful 1988 album Watermark, which served up the more understandable hit Orinoco Flow. At the time, much was made in the press of its use of multi-tracked vocals, conveniently overlooking Claire Hamill’s new age masterpiece Voices that predated it by two years and yet only used her voice.
The opposite of this sweetness comes in the form of The Pogues, whose commercial peak came around the same time as Enya’s with their album, If I Should Fall From Grace with God and which featured the UK’s #2 Christmas song, Fairytale of New York. The Pogues’ blend of traditional Irish music and punk rock has been influential across the world, seeded mainly through Irish communities (particularly in the US and Canada), and the genre which they founded remains extraordinarily popular today. For some bizarre reason, it’s this music which represents the drunken revelry involved in celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, rather than the tranquility of the former.
These five songs represent a snapshot of the diversity amongst this genre - the most interesting aspect of which is how local influences subtly shift musical emphasis and introduce new ideas.
Warblefly - Going Home
By their own admission, southern England denizens Warblefly formed in 1995 in order to “drink and play folk tunes,” which sounds good to me. But it wasn’t until they spent a week at the Cairo Hilton, Egypt as its St. Patrick’s house band that they evolved into the faster, more aggressive group that’s epitomised in Going Home. Taken from their 2004 album Crashing Through the Trees, this song surprises right from its beginning, with a lengthy bluegrass instrumental, but the vocals eventually arrive and the song kicks off to have a rollicking good time. And it’s in these vocals and the overall boisterousness of the song that you can hear their punk influences.
Despite this, anything that gets the folk-rock tag often finds itself losing the delicate touch of folk in pursuit of the more muscular rock angle. Warblefly subvert this outcome by bringing traditional instruments clearly to the forefront of their music and treasuring the value of instrumentals - especially useful since it affords live performances an opportunity to be more organic. Going Home throws its intro into a extended middle break before returning for the song’s final verse.
Warblefly - official website
Warblefly - Going Home (Last.fm)
Ahead to the Sea - Ahead to the Sea
If there’s one nation other than Ireland that should wholeheartedly embrace the spirit(s) of St. Patrick’s Day, it’s bound to be Germany. After all, Oktoberfest only comes round once a year, so having something six months’ earlier suits the drinking calendar nicely.
And you’d be right.
Ahead to the Sea, who sing mainly in English, call themselves “Riverdance on Speed,” which oversells the former, especially on their newer recordings. Frankly, their music strides so many genres that it makes it difficult to classify. So it’s best to choose something that at least has one foot in this week’s theme. And that’s their eponymous song, released on their 2005 album Urban Pirate Soundsystem. It’s significantly softer than Warblefly’s song, mainly because of the vocal harmonies - they’re one of the few bands of this genre that bring female vocals into the mix.
Ahead to the Sea is all about love, escape, getting high and having a good time. What impresses me about this song is not just the duelling vocals, but the way the electric guitars, drums and violin manage to lock their individual rhythms together, making it ideal moshing music. Probably.
Ahead to the Sea - official website (in German)
Ahead to the Sea - Ahead to the Sea (Last.fm)
Ahead to the Sea - Urban Pirate Soundsystem (Amazon UK, Amazon US, iTunes)
Natchez Shakers - Gretel
Sweeping across the Atlantic for our first visit to the US, Natchez Shakers bring Appalachian influences to punky Irish folk music. Or they did, because they’re now incarnated as “Revival Now.” So I have absolutely no more information about them other than that, although according to Last.fm the band “Tofu Love Frogs” is similar. You think I’m kidding?
Natchez Shakers do have several redeeming features: not least the ability of the lead singer to shamble his way through the vocals in a typically drunken fashion, occasionally hitting on the right note, if only temporarily. This kind of performance is ideally suited for live situations where both the audience and the singer can fool themselves and each other that they can carry a tune.
But, Natchez Shakers can write songs, or this one anyhow: An accordion bears Gretel’s main melody (and that works better than it may appear to do on screen), then halfway through they slow the rhythm and go for one of those often used accelerating breaks, starting with just guitars and gradually re-introducing everything else. An old trick, but it’s executed brilliantly here.
Natchez Shakers - Gretel (Last.fm)
Natchez Shakers - Shaker Hymns (Amazon UK, Amazon US, iTunes)
The Skels - Pauper’s Grave
Thus far there has clearly not been enough drinking mentioned in these songs, for which, according to TheYank, we get extra points. This I’ll correct right now, for The Skels clearly seem bound to the joys of drinking to excess and playing music, because they write on their website: “if you plan on acting like a jerk during the month of March, why not do it with your old pals The Skels.” They originated as a house band for an Irish pub in Hoboken, New Jersey and the spirit of that setting lives on in their albums. In fact I’m pretty sure it’s all they sing about.
Pauper’s Grave appears on their 2003 album Any Port In A Storm, a collection of twelve original drinking songs. Scott Heath’s tin whistle is the standout instrument on this track, which begins the song deceptively sweetly before Chris Freid starts spitting out its lyrics. You can here this song in full on their MySpace page.
The Skels - official website
The Skels - MySpace
The Skels - Any Port In A Storm (Amazon UK, Amazon US, iTunes)
Fiddler’s Green - Bugger Off
While I’m on a roll, here are Fiddler’s Green, upping The Skels’ intensity and throwing in plenty of expletives for good measure(s). Fiddler’s Green formed in 1990, come from Erlangen in Germany and play Irish Speedfolk.
Bugger Off is a cover of an Irish drinking song written by Tony Miles. It ironically opens their new album Sports Day At Killaloe because it’s definitely suited to an end of the evening live setting, which is why I’ve placed it last. Bands such as The Real McKenzies and Kevin Barry Toye And Friends have recorded this song previously but their attempts are woefully soporific in comparison to this raucous version, because it demands vigourous audience participation throughout its chorus.
You’ll hear why and how when you listen to it.
Fiddler’s Green - official website (in German)
Fiddler’s Green - Bugger Off (Last.fm)
Fiddler’s Green - Sports Day At Killaloe (Amazon US, iTunes)
The above five songs are a whistle-stop tour around music that’s been born from, or blended with Irish traditional music. Some are more folky than others and some have been clearly influenced by their country or city of origin. It’s fair to conclude that the genre is much richer than its stereotypes predict.
