http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/travel/19Belfast.html?ref=travelSome Here's a link to an article in the New York Times from Sunday, October 19, describing the rebirth of the traditional music scene in Belfast. "10 years after the Northern Ireland peace agreement, Belfast is in the midst of a transformation.....But perhaps nowhere is the peace dividend more pronounced than in the revival of the city’s music scene."
"...A wave of investment — mostly from other parts of Britain — has turned this once war-torn..."
other parts of *Britain*?
Sorry to be a pedant, but Conan I'm surprised you didn't pick that one up, or maybe you were being the quitessential gentleman for which we all love you so dearly.
Northern Ireland isn't in Britain. That is a geographical fact. Eg, some people might say Iceland is part of Scandinavia but that doesn't mean it's *IN* Norway.
Portugal ISN'T in Spain. Claro?
Ooh...It must be me, and I'm so sorry to be so dumb, but I never managed to notice an armed struggle costing thousands of lives on both sides lasting for the latest stage we have witnessed somewhere between 25-30 years (of a total of 800 years), happening between the USA and its imperialistic province, Canada.
Sorry, I have to start reading the news again rather than post lame comments on here.
KML - I agreed with your original post. I know the Northern Ireland/Britain thing touches on some very recent sore spots, and (I don't mean to diminish any of the tragedy of the sitaution by putting it like that), but it's just a fact that people aren't always as clued up as perhaps they should be.. on both sides of the Atlantic - that's the only additional point I was making.
On both sides of the Irish Sea too. It annoys me when, as has happened to me, people in England ask if Dublin is 'the one in Northern Ireland' - they know about the Troubles but aren't in the least bit interested in its details. And it annoys me when people in Ireland refer to almost everything British as English. I suppose it annoys Scots and Welsh people even more. Human nature I guess can be infuriatingly parochial.
OK, humbled, just did a wiki on Isaac Brock and Tecumseh. Had the US invented Manifest Desiny at that point? or did that await their trepidations southwards?
Oh sh!t, sorry let's all keep on talking about certain Belfast pubs, as if they had ever stopped for a moment being Irish and traditional......umm?.....
The funniest thing an English person has said to me about Ireland was "What the hell are yous fighting about anyway?". Lol it must be great to be so oblivious to your history!
Anyway, nice article again, there is definitely some great music in Belfast at the minute, probably always has been, I'm just discoverin it myself atm.
I've seen a British passport once and it stated ' The United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland' I know GB refers to that island to the left of Ireland.
I wrote this article for some rag ages ago and it seems in date I think: Conan will recognise a few places and people.
The Traditional Music Scene in Belfast
Folk, trad or diddle-dee! For some it’s just a bunch of old fogies drinking stout and playing the same old music over and over again. For others it’s a way of life, a vibrant scene where young and old come together to share a common interest.
The traditional music scene in Belfast has been in a good state of health for some time now. The quality of the traditional music played throughout the pubs and venues of the City can rival that of Dublin, Cork or Galway and being a university town means that many’s a young musician from the sticks can be found passing through the big smoke at any given time. Being a blow-in myself I can vouch for the fact that the music sessions in Belfast are second to none.
It wasn’t that long ago that being a young practitioner of traditional music meant going to extremes not to let on to your mates that you went to ‘violin’ classes or feisanna or fleadh competitions. It was the height of un-cool to be associated with Irish folk music, that was something that your Da listened to. I went through five years at St. Joseph’s High, without my music teacher finding out I played fiddle and competed regularly. How things have changed.
Today it is safe to say that trad music is definitely trendy. The average age at most of the good music sessions in Belfast today is about 23. We have accomplished young musicians emerging from the music schools in the city dedicated to the preservation and promotion of traditional music.
I remember realising that there was an attractive sub culture to the traditional arts after my parents sent me as a young naive teenager from South Armagh to the Willie Clancy week in Milltown Malbay, Co. Clare. There I met musicians my own age and played non-stop for a week., and of course discovered Guinness and girls. I met young people who were also tired of living a lie when with their mates and who like me were beginning to come out of the traditional music closet.
The Francis McPeake School of Music has been churning out excellent traditional musicians in Belfast for over 25 years. Their classes are held around the city and they have recently opened city centre premises on Gloucester Street. Their musical year culminates in their annual trip to Milltown Malbay where the young musicians attend classes with renowned tutors and the not so young also have the time of their lives. The McPeake School is developing the Francis McPeake International Summer School being held in the city fand will offer classes in all disciplines of traditional music as well as in dance and music business.
Another excellent music school that serves the youth of Belfast is the Andersonstown School of Traditional & Contemporary Music. I recently visited their evening classes held in the Christian Brother’s Secondary School on the Glen Road. I was initially surprised to see the number of people registering for the numerous music classes offered by the school. Registration in the school gym was organised before students filed off to the different classes. There are presently over 290 students ranging in ages and they are catered for according to proficiency on their chosen instrument. School Director Maxi McElroy gave me a tour of all the classes where I observed the lessons and chatted with some teachers and pupils. The school is a key part of the community in West Belfast and is visibly growing in numbers and respect. The tutors (totalling over 15) have matured in recent years and this is reflected in their approach to teaching and the results of their success. Legendary fiddler Sean Maguire was amongst their list of tutors who worked for the school. Numerous pupils have excelled in recent years as a result and perform regularly in the session scene at home and further afield.
The City Centre and the docks seems to have had the monopoly on all the good traditional music, however in recent years sessions have been popping up in bars throughout Belfast as Publicans are becoming more receptive to trad musicians as the popularity of traditional music is attracting more punters. Ever since Peace broke out tourists haven’t been an uncommon phenomenon throughout the city. In fact traditional music sessions have been a main attraction to visiting ‘cultural’ tourists to Belfast and this is very evident especially in the summer months. Every race, colour and creed has at some time or another tapped their sandals to a rousing tune in Madden’s Bar, Kelly’s Cellars or The Hercules Bar – the Bermuda triangle of traditional music where men have been known to disappear for days. What baffles the tone deaf punter is why beautiful, exotic foreign women for some unfathomable reason find sweaty, drunken, unhealthy Irish musicians totally irresistible! It was always the Uilleann pipers who sought and gained the most attention with their flailing elbows and perfect co-ordination. It’s the only instrument I know that you have to climb into.
Today the sessions have infiltrated Belfast’s own answer to Mont Marte, the Cathedral Quarter. There are weekly sessions in The John Hewitt, The Duke of York and more recently the ‘oldest’ bar in Belfast, White’s Tavern. This area has become the epicentre of the Arts in Belfast and the traditional arts has gained a firm foothold and recognition as being essential to the success of this part of the city. The highly renowned Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival has embraced the traditional arts and has encompassed The Lagan Fleadh into its programme. The successful Open House Traditional Music Festival is into its 10th year and each winter brings a glow to its audience’s faces with the best of local and international traditional song and dance.
So, with traditional music continuing to grow in popularity, what with Riverdance, Cara Dillon and other influential factors, don’t forget we have the finest of trad music on our own door-steps. It’s not all sour faced puritans as some might think but quite an exciting and vibrant scene at the moment. So why not leave your bodhran’s at home and check out one of the great traditional music and song sessions happening throughout Belfast. That reminds me. How many folk singers does it take to change a light bulb? Two. One to change the bulb and the other to sing about how good the old one used to be!
Belfast regains its voice
Belfast regains its voice
http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/travel/19Belfast.html?ref=travelSome Here's a link to an article in the New York Times from Sunday, October 19, describing the rebirth of the traditional music scene in Belfast. "10 years after the Northern Ireland peace agreement, Belfast is in the midst of a transformation.....But perhaps nowhere is the peace dividend more pronounced than in the revival of the city’s music scene."
# Posted on October 22nd 2008 by Dave McGrath
Re: Belfast regains its voice
Cool! Thanks for the link.
It's a bit misty-eyed but close enough.
Nice to see a few familiar names in there as well
# Posted on October 22nd 2008 by Conán McDonnell
Re: Belfast regains its voice
"...A wave of investment — mostly from other parts of Britain — has turned this once war-torn..."
other parts of *Britain*?
Sorry to be a pedant, but Conan I'm surprised you didn't pick that one up, or maybe you were being the quitessential gentleman for which we all love you so dearly.
Northern Ireland isn't in Britain. That is a geographical fact. Eg, some people might say Iceland is part of Scandinavia but that doesn't mean it's *IN* Norway.
Portugal ISN'T in Spain. Claro?
# Posted on October 22nd 2008 by Rudall the time
Re: Belfast regains its voice
We've been here before: http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/19466
And as for getting the political geography wrong, it seems it's everywhere: http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/19448
# Posted on October 22nd 2008 by Lissagriffin
Re: Belfast regains its voice
Ooh...It must be me, and I'm so sorry to be so dumb, but I never managed to notice an armed struggle costing thousands of lives on both sides lasting for the latest stage we have witnessed somewhere between 25-30 years (of a total of 800 years), happening between the USA and its imperialistic province, Canada.
Sorry, I have to start reading the news again rather than post lame comments on here.
# Posted on October 22nd 2008 by Rudall the time
Re: Belfast regains its voice
Thanks Danny - recognition at last! Long live Isaac Brock, Tecumsah, and the brave militia.
# Posted on October 22nd 2008 by grego
Re: Belfast regains its voice
KML - I agreed with your original post. I know the Northern Ireland/Britain thing touches on some very recent sore spots, and (I don't mean to diminish any of the tragedy of the sitaution by putting it like that), but it's just a fact that people aren't always as clued up as perhaps they should be.. on both sides of the Atlantic - that's the only additional point I was making.
On both sides of the Irish Sea too. It annoys me when, as has happened to me, people in England ask if Dublin is 'the one in Northern Ireland' - they know about the Troubles but aren't in the least bit interested in its details. And it annoys me when people in Ireland refer to almost everything British as English. I suppose it annoys Scots and Welsh people even more. Human nature I guess can be infuriatingly parochial.
# Posted on October 22nd 2008 by Lissagriffin
Re: Belfast regains its voice
OK, humbled, just did a wiki on Isaac Brock and Tecumseh. Had the US invented Manifest Desiny at that point? or did that await their trepidations southwards?
Oh sh!t, sorry let's all keep on talking about certain Belfast pubs, as if they had ever stopped for a moment being Irish and traditional......umm?.....
# Posted on October 22nd 2008 by Rudall the time
Re: Belfast regains its voice
The funniest thing an English person has said to me about Ireland was "What the hell are yous fighting about anyway?". Lol it must be great to be so oblivious to your history!
Anyway, nice article again, there is definitely some great music in Belfast at the minute, probably always has been, I'm just discoverin it myself atm.
# Posted on October 22nd 2008 by dee.
Re: Belfast regains its voice
I've seen a British passport once and it stated ' The United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland' I know GB refers to that island to the left of Ireland.
I wrote this article for some rag ages ago and it seems in date I think: Conan will recognise a few places and people.
The Traditional Music Scene in Belfast
Folk, trad or diddle-dee! For some it’s just a bunch of old fogies drinking stout and playing the same old music over and over again. For others it’s a way of life, a vibrant scene where young and old come together to share a common interest.
The traditional music scene in Belfast has been in a good state of health for some time now. The quality of the traditional music played throughout the pubs and venues of the City can rival that of Dublin, Cork or Galway and being a university town means that many’s a young musician from the sticks can be found passing through the big smoke at any given time. Being a blow-in myself I can vouch for the fact that the music sessions in Belfast are second to none.
It wasn’t that long ago that being a young practitioner of traditional music meant going to extremes not to let on to your mates that you went to ‘violin’ classes or feisanna or fleadh competitions. It was the height of un-cool to be associated with Irish folk music, that was something that your Da listened to. I went through five years at St. Joseph’s High, without my music teacher finding out I played fiddle and competed regularly. How things have changed.
Today it is safe to say that trad music is definitely trendy. The average age at most of the good music sessions in Belfast today is about 23. We have accomplished young musicians emerging from the music schools in the city dedicated to the preservation and promotion of traditional music.
I remember realising that there was an attractive sub culture to the traditional arts after my parents sent me as a young naive teenager from South Armagh to the Willie Clancy week in Milltown Malbay, Co. Clare. There I met musicians my own age and played non-stop for a week., and of course discovered Guinness and girls. I met young people who were also tired of living a lie when with their mates and who like me were beginning to come out of the traditional music closet.
The Francis McPeake School of Music has been churning out excellent traditional musicians in Belfast for over 25 years. Their classes are held around the city and they have recently opened city centre premises on Gloucester Street. Their musical year culminates in their annual trip to Milltown Malbay where the young musicians attend classes with renowned tutors and the not so young also have the time of their lives. The McPeake School is developing the Francis McPeake International Summer School being held in the city fand will offer classes in all disciplines of traditional music as well as in dance and music business.
Another excellent music school that serves the youth of Belfast is the Andersonstown School of Traditional & Contemporary Music. I recently visited their evening classes held in the Christian Brother’s Secondary School on the Glen Road. I was initially surprised to see the number of people registering for the numerous music classes offered by the school. Registration in the school gym was organised before students filed off to the different classes. There are presently over 290 students ranging in ages and they are catered for according to proficiency on their chosen instrument. School Director Maxi McElroy gave me a tour of all the classes where I observed the lessons and chatted with some teachers and pupils. The school is a key part of the community in West Belfast and is visibly growing in numbers and respect. The tutors (totalling over 15) have matured in recent years and this is reflected in their approach to teaching and the results of their success. Legendary fiddler Sean Maguire was amongst their list of tutors who worked for the school. Numerous pupils have excelled in recent years as a result and perform regularly in the session scene at home and further afield.
The City Centre and the docks seems to have had the monopoly on all the good traditional music, however in recent years sessions have been popping up in bars throughout Belfast as Publicans are becoming more receptive to trad musicians as the popularity of traditional music is attracting more punters. Ever since Peace broke out tourists haven’t been an uncommon phenomenon throughout the city. In fact traditional music sessions have been a main attraction to visiting ‘cultural’ tourists to Belfast and this is very evident especially in the summer months. Every race, colour and creed has at some time or another tapped their sandals to a rousing tune in Madden’s Bar, Kelly’s Cellars or The Hercules Bar – the Bermuda triangle of traditional music where men have been known to disappear for days. What baffles the tone deaf punter is why beautiful, exotic foreign women for some unfathomable reason find sweaty, drunken, unhealthy Irish musicians totally irresistible! It was always the Uilleann pipers who sought and gained the most attention with their flailing elbows and perfect co-ordination. It’s the only instrument I know that you have to climb into.
Today the sessions have infiltrated Belfast’s own answer to Mont Marte, the Cathedral Quarter. There are weekly sessions in The John Hewitt, The Duke of York and more recently the ‘oldest’ bar in Belfast, White’s Tavern. This area has become the epicentre of the Arts in Belfast and the traditional arts has gained a firm foothold and recognition as being essential to the success of this part of the city. The highly renowned Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival has embraced the traditional arts and has encompassed The Lagan Fleadh into its programme. The successful Open House Traditional Music Festival is into its 10th year and each winter brings a glow to its audience’s faces with the best of local and international traditional song and dance.
So, with traditional music continuing to grow in popularity, what with Riverdance, Cara Dillon and other influential factors, don’t forget we have the finest of trad music on our own door-steps. It’s not all sour faced puritans as some might think but quite an exciting and vibrant scene at the moment. So why not leave your bodhran’s at home and check out one of the great traditional music and song sessions happening throughout Belfast. That reminds me. How many folk singers does it take to change a light bulb? Two. One to change the bulb and the other to sing about how good the old one used to be!
# Posted on October 23rd 2008 by iwerzon