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Transcription: [00:21:22]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
We’ve heard from a couple of people here about the changes that have happened in the last couple of years, and the fact is, it is fashionable now in Ireland to play Irish traditional music, and among Irish-Americans too.
[00:21:31]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
And the reasons for the changes are fairly complex; and a part of Irish history, in a way, that goes back beyond this time.
[00:21:37]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
In Ireland, we've only, well, we've only become partially free from colonial domination.
[00:21:44]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
Back in 1922, when 26 of the 32 counties got freedom from British rule, there are 6 counties still under British rule,
[00:21:50]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
and as part of the ongoing attempt, over the years, of various people in Irish life to gain freedom from British rule, there was a corresponding movement in culture to nationalism
[00:22:00]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
which saw the culture of Ireland, the ancient culture of the country, as being a very important part of a statement that would recognize the Irish right to freedom from British influence.
[00:22:09]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
So, therefore, you had a lot of movements over time that had a cultural, nationalistic platform and that sought to revive certain aspects of Irish life.
[00:22:18]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
There was the Gaelic League of the 1890s, and the Irish Dancing Commission of the 1920s, and in the 1950s an organization called the Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, the Musicians Association of Ireland,
[00:22:26]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
was formed with the express intention of reviving certain aspects-- of preserving certain aspects of the traditional culture, notably the music and the singing and the dance.
[00:22:35]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
And it has had an enormous effect in Ireland - with setting up branches all over country, organizing festivals, and helping to create a climate where the music is acceptable.
[00:22:42]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
Somewhat at the same time, there was a sort of a Beatles phenomenon in Ireland of traditional proportions when a group called, "The Clancy Brothers" and "Tommy Makem" achieved a great deal of success over here in Greenwich Village,
[00:22:54]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
put out records on Columbia, and made it fashionable for young, urban, Irish kids, you know, to be involved in Irish music. It was fun and people could get into the bars and sing Irish music.
[00:23:04]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
And then there was the meteoric rise to success of a group called, "The Chieftains," who, for the first time, were accepted as traditional musicians by the establishment of Irish Radio
[00:23:16]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
which had an enormous effect on the people.
[00:23:18]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
And the people running the music programs in Irish radio didn't like traditional music, at all, because they thought it was low caste music, and they thought it was peasant music and not at all worthy of presentation as national music.
[00:23:30]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
And, in fact, the music director of Irish Radio, for many years, wouldn't play traditional music because he said it was always out of tune.
[00:23:35]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
And paradoxically, whatever traditional music was played, it was played on current affairs programs. And not too many of those went down.
[00:23:43]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
So, suddenly all that disappeared in a matter of five years. And the climate was created in the country that made it acceptable for people to identify with traditional music as a vital part of the national heritage.
[00:23:53]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
And also made it acceptable for children growing up, you know, to espouse the music; to get involved with it.
[00:23:59]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
It's still far from being the national music, as far as the majority of music, but it is a very healthy minority situation.
[00:24:05]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
You'll hear more Country and Western in Ireland than you will Irish Traditional music. We have our own brand of Country and Western with some very unique distinctive features. If you want to go check it out, you can. [[laughter]]
[00:24:14]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
And, uh, what the Traditional music is stronger now than it has ever been - and I think Jack Coen will probably tell you, he's been here since, in America, since 1949 that things have changed an awful lot in the last ten or fifteen years, Jack, I'd say, and you'd--
[00:24:26]

{SPEAKER name="Jack Coen"}
Oh they have, they've changed an awful lot. When I came here, I came in 1949, you could go a long ways to meet somebody playing Irish music, and it would be just by accident that you'd bump into them.
[00:24:39]

{SPEAKER name="Jack Coen"}
You might hear tell of them but you'd never be lucky enough to meet 'em. And until Comhaltas started, which was sometime in the 50s, I guess,
[00:24:46]

{SPEAKER name="Jack Coen"}
and started a little branch in the different boroughs 'round about the city that they, all of those began to come out of the holes in the walls and collect them and play a few tunes.
[00:24:57]

{SPEAKER name="Jack Coen"}
Then the kids started learning and, right now it's going pretty strong. Going good and strong, right now. I think it is the best time it ever was. Thanks to a lot of festivals, like this one,
[00:25:08]

{SPEAKER name="Jack Coen"}
who bring the people out to listen to it and gets the kids interested in playing it.
[00:25:13]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
And a very important part of this whole thing has been the presence of people like Jack and other senior musicians around who have provided the living link. This is not a tradition that ever died.
[00:25:23]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
There are other ethnic traditions in America where people do not have that living link with the past, that continuity, and they seek to artificially revive those traditions which is something that is their only option.
[00:25:33]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
We've been singularly fortunate, in Irish music, as in some other ethnic traditions, and certainly in old-time American music, that that living link was never broken; the continuity was always there.
[00:25:43]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
And that living link is a vital part of the social aspects of the music, where often times musicians will get together with the instruments for an evening and no music will be played at all.
[00:25:52]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
People just sit around swapping stories, enjoying each other's company, and so on. And the social aspect of the music is just as vital as the actual music aspect,
[00:26:00]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
and Irish musicians in this country form a network that stretches right across the country. It's sort of like a little sub-culture in it's own right, where people enjoy each other's friendship and company, as well as musical companionship. And it's like one big very, very large extended family.
[00:26:12]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
So, traditions, traditions, you know, are conserved on a social base; it just doesn't happen accidentally. And the willingness of the senior practitioners to open their lives and their music to people coming along is a very, very vital aspect of how the whole thing keeps going.
[00:26:31]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
Are there any questions at all from anybody here? For any of us?
[00:26:33]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
[[From audience]]
Do any of you lilt?

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
Does any of us lilt? This man here, Jack Coen, is absolutely the best lilter I have ever heard.
[00:26:40]

{SPEAKER name="Jack Coen"}
Oh Jesus!
[[Laughter]]
[00:26:41]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
But he is also one of the shyest.
[00:26:42]

{SPEAKER name="Jack Holm"}
[[growl/groan]]
[00:26:44}

Transcription Notes:
please confirm that Comhaltas Ceoltóirí is the name of the the Musicians Association of Ireland mentioned in the text. (Confirmed)