Double Bass, not as daft, perhaps, as it sounds, for as I understand it, it was the Romans who first brought the Bagpipes to these islands & eventually the small, bellows blown pipes were brought over here from the North of England & the Uilleann Pipes eventually developed from these.
So bosco, I guess we can thank the Romans for bringing the Pipes at least as far as England!
Didn't they educate St Patrick before he became a saint & was kidnapped, from the Welsh, by the Irish?
What the blazes would we call all those St Patrick tunes if we hadn't had St Paddy to name them after?
Terry Jones mentions in his article that the Romans left written records which perpetuate Roman propaganda against the "barbarians." Actually, the written word was known about and shunned by the Celts, as they felt reading something meant that you could recite like a parrot, whereas the person who memorized and held the knowledge in their heart was truly educated. The Iliad and Odyssey were probably in this tradition originally, until Homer got to it and popularized for the (in his day) mass media. Have any of us experienced having a good extended piece of poetry declaimed to us from the heart? It will either be really good or really bad, but will evoke a strong reaction regardless. I think our music is in the same tradition, as that it should be played from the heart, not from a sheet of soulless paper. In a session, how many times I've watched someone fumble in a notebook while the music flowed all around them, there for those with an ear. So, yeah, Erin go bragh!
Homer flourished around the 8th century BC. In that time, and before, and for quite a while after, all epic poetry was committed to memory and recited. The Iliad and the Odyssey, which were probably based on older epics and tales dating back much earlier towards the Bronze Age, weren't put into writing for at least two hundred years after Homer. It is believed that an early written version of the Iliad may have existed in Athens in the 6th century.
Many sources believe St Patrick was indeed 5th century Romano-British, and there's a fairly convincing school of thought that believes he was brought up in the Somerset village of Banwell, a couple of miles inland from Weston-Super-Mare on the Bristol Channel coast, about 30 minutes drive from Bristol. In those days Banwell was probably much closer to the coast and would have had fairly easy access to the sea, which makes stories of the boy being kidnapped by pirates more credible.
For further details see http://www.vortigernstudies.org.uk/artgue/guestjelley.htm
erin go bragh
erin go bragh
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-2168328,00.html
# Posted on May 16th 2006 by cuchulain54
Re: erin go bragh
Erin, go bra-less. I'm sure the eastern celts would take umbrage at your erin-o-phile snobbery!
# Posted on May 16th 2006 by Farr
Re: erin go bragh
Fair enough.
# Posted on May 16th 2006 by cuchulain54
Re: erin go bragh
A few centuries ago, all the Europeans were called barbarians in Far East: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanban_trade_period
# Posted on May 16th 2006 by slainte
Re: erin go bragh
Iontach suimiúil, Cúchulain!!
# Posted on May 16th 2006 by double bass
Re: erin go bragh
And the 'barbarians' definitely had better music than those pesky Romans!
# Posted on May 16th 2006 by AlBrown
Re: erin go bragh
Exactly. What have the Romans ever done for traditional Irish music?
# Posted on May 16th 2006 by bosco
Re: erin go bragh
I heard Julius Caesar played the uilleann pipes! and Nero fiddled!!
# Posted on May 16th 2006 by double bass
Re: erin go bragh
Double Bass, not as daft, perhaps, as it sounds, for as I understand it, it was the Romans who first brought the Bagpipes to these islands & eventually the small, bellows blown pipes were brought over here from the North of England & the Uilleann Pipes eventually developed from these.
So bosco, I guess we can thank the Romans for bringing the Pipes at least as far as England!
Didn't they educate St Patrick before he became a saint & was kidnapped, from the Welsh, by the Irish?
What the blazes would we call all those St Patrick tunes if we hadn't had St Paddy to name them after?
# Posted on May 16th 2006 by Ptarmigan
Re: erin go bragh
Terry Jones mentions in his article that the Romans left written records which perpetuate Roman propaganda against the "barbarians." Actually, the written word was known about and shunned by the Celts, as they felt reading something meant that you could recite like a parrot, whereas the person who memorized and held the knowledge in their heart was truly educated. The Iliad and Odyssey were probably in this tradition originally, until Homer got to it and popularized for the (in his day) mass media. Have any of us experienced having a good extended piece of poetry declaimed to us from the heart? It will either be really good or really bad, but will evoke a strong reaction regardless. I think our music is in the same tradition, as that it should be played from the heart, not from a sheet of soulless paper. In a session, how many times I've watched someone fumble in a notebook while the music flowed all around them, there for those with an ear. So, yeah, Erin go bragh!
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by rainog
Re: erin go bragh
Homer flourished around the 8th century BC. In that time, and before, and for quite a while after, all epic poetry was committed to memory and recited. The Iliad and the Odyssey, which were probably based on older epics and tales dating back much earlier towards the Bronze Age, weren't put into writing for at least two hundred years after Homer. It is believed that an early written version of the Iliad may have existed in Athens in the 6th century.
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by Trevor Jennings
Re: erin go bragh
I' d like to find it, too!
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by rainog
Re: erin go bragh
Tá an ceart agat Rainog!
takes more to learn something than to read it.
Ceiltigh go brách!!!
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by double bass
Re: erin go bragh
I know an Italian guy who insists that Saint Patrick was a young Roman boy whose parents were part of the Roman occupation of Britain.
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by AlBrown
Re: erin go bragh
Many sources believe St Patrick was indeed 5th century Romano-British, and there's a fairly convincing school of thought that believes he was brought up in the Somerset village of Banwell, a couple of miles inland from Weston-Super-Mare on the Bristol Channel coast, about 30 minutes drive from Bristol. In those days Banwell was probably much closer to the coast and would have had fairly easy access to the sea, which makes stories of the boy being kidnapped by pirates more credible.
For further details see
http://www.vortigernstudies.org.uk/artgue/guestjelley.htm
# Posted on May 17th 2006 by Trevor Jennings
Re: erin go bragh
i heard that Nero played pipes while Rome burned, not fiddle
# Posted on May 31st 2006 by rob_handel