TY - CHAP
T1 - Participatory music in the Irish Gaeltacht
AU - Costello , Éamonn
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - The dramatic modernisation that An Cheathrú Rua (Carraroe) in the Conamara Gaeltacht1 has experienced from the mid-twentieth century onwards, has brought about a state of technologically-induced social isolation2 amongst the local population. This feeling of social isolation is mirrored by the loudness of Conamara Country and Western (CC&W) performances, which inhibit verbal communication and therefore community bonding. In the past in Carraroe, the performance of sean-nós3 and Irish traditional music was a fully participatory, and a highly intimate event. As such, it helped to reinforce the community
bonds essential for sustaining the area’s economy which, up until the early 1960s, was a co-operative labour system. The introduction of industry to Carraroe brought an end to this system, and, by extension, sean-nós lost its function in the community. To compound matters, due to the influence of Romantic nationalism, sean-nós is widely seen as an index of an idealised primitive Gaeltacht, which bears little resemblance to contemporary Gaeltacht life. CC&W music sung in Irish/Gaelic4 has become the dominant music genre of
the area, partly because the cosmopolitan nature of CC&W subverts the primitive image of the Gaeltacht fostered by Romantic revivalists. Since Carraroe is one of Conamara’s major socialising hubs, it is, in my opinion, a synecdoche for the Conamara Gaeltacht.
AB - The dramatic modernisation that An Cheathrú Rua (Carraroe) in the Conamara Gaeltacht1 has experienced from the mid-twentieth century onwards, has brought about a state of technologically-induced social isolation2 amongst the local population. This feeling of social isolation is mirrored by the loudness of Conamara Country and Western (CC&W) performances, which inhibit verbal communication and therefore community bonding. In the past in Carraroe, the performance of sean-nós3 and Irish traditional music was a fully participatory, and a highly intimate event. As such, it helped to reinforce the community
bonds essential for sustaining the area’s economy which, up until the early 1960s, was a co-operative labour system. The introduction of industry to Carraroe brought an end to this system, and, by extension, sean-nós lost its function in the community. To compound matters, due to the influence of Romantic nationalism, sean-nós is widely seen as an index of an idealised primitive Gaeltacht, which bears little resemblance to contemporary Gaeltacht life. CC&W music sung in Irish/Gaelic4 has become the dominant music genre of
the area, partly because the cosmopolitan nature of CC&W subverts the primitive image of the Gaeltacht fostered by Romantic revivalists. Since Carraroe is one of Conamara’s major socialising hubs, it is, in my opinion, a synecdoche for the Conamara Gaeltacht.
M3 - Chapter
SN - 978-1-85752-073-6
T3 - Fiddle and Dance Studies from around the North Atlantic 5
SP - 38
EP - 47
BT - Ón gCos go Cluas
A2 - Doherty, Liz
A2 - Vallely, Fintan
PB - Aberdeen University Press
T2 - North Atlantic Fiddle Convention Conference
Y2 - 27 June 2012 through 1 July 2012
ER -