Irish rebel music

I'm not comfortable with the term "rebel music" being applied to music of the Irish resistance to English/British rule.

The true rebels of Irish history are the English, who made a point of calling all those who resisted it "rebels" from an early date in order to give the impression that English rule was the norm, the legitimate rule in Ireland. Thus the English marched into 16th-century Ulster for the first time and made a massive point of denouncing Seán an Díomais as a "rebel" when it was the English who were overthrowing the established order, the legitimate tradition in the Gaelic world. They were the rebels trying to overthrow the legitimate order.

Now that many/most of the Irish seem to pride themselves in this "rebel" label, the English (now including the Scots and Welsh and calling themselves British) move the goalposts and the ultimate insult of "rebel" has been replaced by the ultimate insult of "terrorist". Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

/end academic historical point.

Dionysus wrote: »

I'm not comfortable with the term "rebel music" being applied to music of the Irish resistance to English/British rule.

The true rebels of Irish history are the English, who made a point of calling all those who resisted it "rebels" from an early date in order to give the impression that English rule was the norm, the legitimate rule in Ireland. Thus the English marched into 16th-century Ulster for the first time and made a massive point of denouncing Seán an Díomais as a "rebel" when it was the English who were overthrowing the established order, the legitimate tradition in the Gaelic world. They were the rebels trying to overthrow the legitimate order.

Now that many/most of the Irish seem to pride themselves in this "rebel" label, the English (now including the Scots and Welsh and calling themselves British) move the goalposts and the ultimate insult of "rebel" has been replaced by the ultimate insult of "terrorist". Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

/end academic historical point.

It has to be said that the English were as much as marginalised as the Irish, what was happening in Ireland with the English landlords evicting the poor Irish tenants also happened frequently in England itself. The fact is that its not documented as much as the Famine era in Ireland, Dick Gaughan and Billy Bragg done great versions of this song highlighting the plight of the Diggers.

Some people posting here can't seem to distinguish between folk balladry in general and rebel songs in particular.

I like lots of rebel songs, plenty of them are awful shíte though and even many of the good ones are marred by terrible recording and production. I think this reflects the limited means of a lot of the bands recording during the '60s/'70s/'80s and also that many recordings are done at gigs rather than in the studio.

Most rebel songs about long bygone eras that are still popular today are pretty good songs in my opinion. The Rising Of The Moon, Boolavogue, Kelly From Killane (Damien Dempsey's version of this is great), Aghadoe and other 19th century ballads are fantastic. Similarly, many of the songs like The Foggy Dew, The Boys Of Barr Na Sráide, and others talking about the Easter Rising/War Of Independence/Civil War era are beautifully written and some fantastic recordings exist of them. I listen to these songs regularly and can even sing a few of them.

Most of the more recent rebel songs are problematic for various reasons which reflect the more ambivalent stance many people have over the recent Troubles. The foremost issue I suppose is am I tacitly supporting the PIRA or the INLA etc by listening to and enjoying these songs? And relevant to the issues in the first post, would a broadcaster be lending those groups support by airing this music?

Of course we're at least nominally at peace now but people affected by the more recent Troubles will be alive for many more years to come. I also can't help but think that there'll never be a song lionising the men who blew up Omagh Town in 1998, or who massacred 10 Protestant workers in Kingsmill in 1976, for obvious reasons.

Anyway rant over, here's a Scottish rebel song I quite like.

Maybe just let this thread die now, bye.

When one of our neighbours in the UK insisted on playing Elvis full-blast on a Sunday morning, I had to use rebel music as a weapon, turning up the volume and placing the speakers against the dividing wall. The Elvis fan's husband was an ex-British army guy pensioned off for a nervous disorder. We never heard Elvis again after that and the neighbour's house was on the market shortly afterwards.

KeithAFC wrote: »

I agree. A lot of them aren't good songs at all.

Unionist says he hate rebel/folk songs

Shocker!

Back on topic, I like a lot of rebel songs and some not so rebel, one of my favourite is Boulavogue, which is a song about the 1798 rebellion.





I love this song too about the 1916 rising.

What about our national anthem? That's a rebel song.

the tones might be known for their rebel tunes but for me their best song has nothing to do with that subject