The Anti - Jazz Campaign in Leitrim 1934

brennan1979 · 2011-07-02 12:18:09

New article from the Irish Story website about the Anti - Jazz campaign in Leitrim in 1934. http://www.theirishstory.com/2011/07...jazz-campaign/ Leitrim was to become the centre of the Anti – Jazz campaign and its leader was the parish priest of Cloone, Fr. Peter Conefrey. Conefrey was an ardent cultural nationalist and…

02-07-2011 01:18PM

#1

brennan1979

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New article from the Irish Story website about the Anti - Jazz campaign in Leitrim in 1934.

http://www.theirishstory.com/2011/07...jazz-campaign/

Leitrim was to become the centre of the Anti – Jazz campaign and its leader was the parish priest of Cloone, Fr. Peter Conefrey. Conefrey was an ardent cultural nationalist and was heavily involved in the promotion of Irish music and dancing and the Irish language. He devoted his life to making parishioners wear home – spun clothes and become self – sufficient in food.

On New Year’s Day 1934 over three thousand people from South Leitrim and surrounding areas marched through Mohill to begin the Anti – Jazz campaign. The procession was accompanied by five bands and the demonstrators carried banners inscribed with slogans such as ‘Down with Jazz’ and ‘Out with Paganism.’ A meeting was then held in the Canon Donohoe Memorial Hall organised by Fr. Conefrey and Canon Masterson, the parish priest of Mohill.

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#2 04-07-2011 09:10PM

Essexboy

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Those were dark times for Ireland.

The State and Church had ‘anathematized everything from jazz to modern fiction’ Roy Foster, Modern Ireland , 535.

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#3 08-07-2011 06:14PM

Deregos

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"Anyone intending to hold a public dance now needed a license from a district judge. Many priests felt it their duty to promulgate the Act throughout their community and often accompanied Gardaí on their raids of unlicensed dances".

Thanks OP, that's not only a great article but a superb website.

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#4 09-07-2011 02:45AM

brennan1979

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Thank you Deregos.

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#5 09-07-2011 02:47AM

The Scientician

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There was some discussion of this and a link to an old radio doc at: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056253330

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#6 09-07-2011 10:06AM

mike65

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Jazz was "darkies sex music" in the eyes of many whites in the 20/30s, factor in Irish rural Catholicism and one suspects the only thing that stoped lynchings was the absence of any jazz loving blacks to lynch.

It warned the people of Leitrim not to turn away from the special mission God had given Ireland to bring Christian civilisation throughout the world and not to ‘disgrace the heroic saints and martyrs of our race… The West, we are sure, will not now slumber but rush forth again to expel the last and worst invader – the jazz of Johnny Bull and the **** and cannibals.’[30] Concluding the piece Lia Fáil wrote that, ‘to be slaves of Saxonland is bad enough, but to belong to Satan! Perish the thought!’

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