WHAT IS IRISH MUSIC?

Irish music has changed from being very traditional to many types like pop-irish,rock- irish, etc. but still traditional otherwise known as trad is still very popular to date all around the world. It is also the culture of Ireland and gives us identidity and often reflects what we see in life.

Irish music is a number of different genres including folk music created in which they are infused together from Ireland. Much of irish music is for dancing as it is up beat and flows into each other like a magical chant. But there is also Irish music for listening to for example when songs are sung in Sean-nos style(old-style) which often the song referes to everyday life.

Irish tunes and songs were traditionally passed from generation to generation aurally through ear and mouth originally or in the pubs and it was not till the 19th century that these tunes were notated down.  From being passed on by ear the tunes changed a little bit each generation meaning that the tunes and songs were not always the same, giving many variations and notes of the music for the collectors as they are called to give us as wide varaitey of the same tune.

In a later post i will tell you all about the different instruments used and also how some modern instruments have been introduced along with a video later.

image from irishrainphotography
This is a basic pub session in which people played irish music for a pint of beer.