July 14th, 2003
All the right notes at Re-Imagining Ireland Conference

Re-Imagining Ireland was an extraordinary meeting of the minds and hearts of some of the best Irish scholars, academics, poets, politicians, musicians, artists, and thoughtful people of every stripe. Held in the comfortable environs of Charlottesville and the University of Virginia campus from May 7-10, the conference engaged over 100 presenters and more than 200 registrants in discussions of Irish identity.

Conceived in the twilight of the Celtic Tiger by Andrew Higgins Wyndham of the Virginia Foundation for Humanities and Martin McLoone of the University of Coleraine, the events allowed participants to mull over the implications of the unprecedented economic boom for Irish cultural life. Verdicts were mixed with many wondering if we were in danger of throwing out the binding ties of a communal culture with the bathwater of rapid and unaccustomed prosperity.

On the musical front, Tommy Sands put his art to work building small bridges of peace across the great divide in Northern Ireland. During a lunchtime session on ‘Songs of Peace,’ Sands managed to talk politicians David Ervine, Chris McGimpsey, and Brid Rodgers into singing a song. McGimpsey obliged with a murder ballad from the Orange tradition; Ervine sang Leaving Dalriada, composed by his brother; and, Rodgers offered a plaintive verse of ‘Se Fa Mo Bhuarta.’ It was an emotional peak in a gathering with many magical moments.

The conference featured a panel on Irish music and dance that offered a diversity of views. Moderator Mick Moloney argued that it is the best of times for Irish music with it being in the vanguard of ‘an unprecedented cultural renaissance.’ There are more musicians, many of them talented, budding young players, and more accomplished professional musicians then ever before, said Moloney.

Nicholas O’Carolan of the Irish Traditional Music Archive presented a more baneful perspective. O’Carolan argued that the future of Irish traditional music is already here and has been actively unfolding since the invention of sound recording by Thomas Edison in 1877. In his view, a very rich, 9,000 year-old musical heritage has been virtually undone by 100 years of technological advancement. In the modern era the role of live, interactive musical performance in small groups and communities has slowly declined. ‘Irish people don't ‘own’ Irish traditional music anymore,’ said Carolan, ‘And we don't seem to want it.’

Dr. Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, Director of the Irish World Music Center at the University of Limerick, welcomes the emerging links to world music, saying that a global awareness can make you more appreciative of the value of a local music or culture. He sees music as a very mysterious and universal medium, and believes that all good music is bound to be greater than its point of origin.

Larry Kirwan, leader of the New York-based Irish-American rock band Black 47, lamented the loss of the Irish language but believes it finds expression in our music. Ireland may be losing some of its soul in the current climate of prosperity but Kirwan trusts that our writers and artists will keep the best parts of the culture alive and kicking. The final contributor, dancer and actor, Jean Butler expressed disappointment with the state of Irish dancing post-Riverdance. She sees it as becoming homogenized and argued that Irish dancers need some classical training and non-competitive outlets.

Other notable musical events included a master class by Andy Irvine, one of the great traditional adventurers. In a session called East Wind, he explored European musical influences on contemporary Irish music. Irvine, refusing to be upstaged by a massive thunderstorm that burst forth just as the show began, gave a definitive workshop on the Irish-Balkans connection with thrilling lessons in the polyrhythmic time signatures of Eastern European folk music. A stirring highlight of this session was Irvine, Rens van der Zalm and Bruce Molsky giving a delightfully strung-out rendition of the old Planxty favorite, The Blacksmith, on bouzouki, mandolin, and 5-string banjo.

Another event paired Martin Hayes, a musician with one foot firmly rooted in the musical past with the other pressing pointedly against the future, with poet Cathal O’Searcaigh. The poet reads beautifully in his melodic Donegal Irish. O’Searcaigh embodies a more complex modern Irish identity, the man who, as he says himself, put the gay back into Gaeltacht!

Len Graham and John Campbell provided some entertaining performances with songs and stories from the Ulster countryside. Other fine musical contributions came from De Dannan, Solas, Cherish the Ladies, and The Green Fields of America.

The conference itself operated with a-Tiger-like efficiency, providing a tightly organized and closely scheduled series of panel presentations, films, exhibits, and musical events. And, shockingly enough, nearly everyone went along with the program. Mick Moloney remarked that the music panel gave an ‘almost frightening display of punctuality.’ The artists often presented a more coherent perspective on Irish cultural life than some of the academics could muster. However, the best exchanges were clearly inter-disciplinary and seemed to occur mostly between the formal sessions in the coffee shops, bars, restaurants, and bookshops around the town. The conference clearly succeeded in planting some seeds for further thought and analysis, and future flowerings should be most fruitful.

Report by Tom Clancy