This may be covered on the “where is the tradition heading” topic. But, I am wondering how Irish traditional ways have faired under the aegis of Ireland with Money. I haven’t been back there since '85, and frankly I am a little hesitant to return. All I hear is that everyone has money now. Everyone has a car, everytown has a traffice jam, and everyone has a cellphone. That doesn’t bother me so much as the fear that all things traditional have been relagated to “the bad old days” and thus dropped. The music, the dance, the language…is there investment in these things now or have they been shunned because of their poor-mouth associations? I recall hearing a prominent Irish novelist (I’ll have to look this one up, sorry)on National Public Radio exclaiming about how he HATES all this Celtic stuff…he didn’t think the Celts really existed at all! Can someone give me a feel for how traditional culture is fairing in The Tiger’s Ireland?
During summerschools etc there’s usually a big cluster of people outside pubs shouting into mobile phones to tell their friends there’s a nice session here with famous pople in it. All the middle class kids come to their classes driven in new cars and with 4000 euro concertinas in their pockets. It’s thriving.
Food of the Celtic Tiger? Well, despite advances in dietary habits of late, probably something fried…
Yeah, you could look at the idea of “Irish people with money” as having a corrosive effect on the culture, but you could also view it the opposite way. About three years back, I spent a fantastic summer in the West Kerry Gaeltacht. Nearly all of my friends were native Irish speakers, under 20, and blethered into their mobile phones incesssantly–much of the time in Irish. One of these friends now works for Raidio Na Gaeltachta. There is also an Irish language-medium TV station (“TG4”) now which broadcasts news, variety, music and drama programs throughout the day and weird Spanish movies late at night.
If any of you are looking for a country with a deep commitment to preserving and promoting its traditional music that is thoroughly unencumbered by economic prosperity, might I sugggest you contact the friendly people at Ryohaengsa–North Korea’s tourist board.
A Stalinist theme park that also conveniently doubles as an isolated and impoverished third-world nation, North Korea’s communist regime may have cracked down on traditional religious practices (indigenous shamanism, Buddhism, and Christianity) as being examples of a “feudalist mentality” but ironically, it has also done much to officially encourage traditional arts and music. Some visitors have asserted that traditional music in the North is much purer in form than in the South where it has to contend with truly awful Korean pop music (“K-Pop”), not to mention western imports. Also, North Korea has many strikingly beautiful areas of natural scenery that have been left nearly untouched by tourists and Pyongyang is reputedly one of the world’s cleanest cities (owing to strict custodial duties on the part of its residents and a near total absence of any automobiles). Sounds great to me…Now if only they didn’t have weapons of mass destruction aimed at my ass…Oh, and if you’re an American or South Korean citizen, you’re barred from entry. As far as I know, it’s okay for anyone else to go although I think there’s a quota of only about 600 foreigners permitted entry per year. Send in those Visa applications now, folks!
I think it’s safe to say that the Irish youth don’t have quite the same stigmatized view of trad that, say, hip-hop musicians might have of the Delta blues, at least based on what I saw when last in Dublin. When I first went to live there years ago, everyone warned me I wouldn’t find decent food or coffee. Not true, but now you can’t swing a cat along the quays without spilling a cappuccino and there are otherwise respectable pubs serving farfalle with sundried tomatoes and blue cheese. Peter isn’t kidding about the mobile phones, it’s out of control. Many teenagers ringing up to ask ma what’s for dinner and to tell the neighborhood lads the bus is arriving. Harmful to music? You be the judge.
Just a side note after comming back only about a month ago from Ireland. There are a lot more cars, they’re generally a lot bigger (1 or 2 in ten seemed to be SUVs, though nothing as obnoxious as any of the land-whales in the US) and there are certainly traffic jams where there once were none. Not to mention many more terribly confusing stop-lights (though they’re needed more than before, certainly. I still love the roundabouts).
The music scene hasn’t suffered much at all. Every place I went that had a thriving scene still does and in many cases it has improved or is being promoted / ‘advertised’ more widely. Not, thankfully, to the detriment or over-crowding of said sessions / festivals.
As for TG4 and RnaG, thank goodness! I only wish I could get TG4 here in the states. With all the celtophiles you’d think some cable or DSS company would carry it. They carry Arabic language stations, spanish stations and various other cultural stations. There’s no reason that TG4 couldn’t be in as much demand over here if it were advertised correctly (some kind of st. Paddy’s day, Irish-american pride commercial ought to work). RnaG is thankfully available streamed over the net.
Hmm…There are MILLIONS, no wait, TENS OF MILLIONS of people throughout the North American continent who view Arabic/ Spanish/ Chinese/[Fill in the blank] stations on a daily basis. How many people do you suppose would actively petition a major North American cable provider to transmit a small Irish Gaelic-medium TV station? I’m guessing maybe a few thousand people at the very best.
A much more realistic scenario would be for TG4 to post streaming video segments on its website for the relatively small number of people outside the Republic of Ireland who would have a strong interest in watching it.
My wife and I were in Ireland 15 years ago, and just visited again this past June. We loved it the first time, and were a bit disappointed this time because of what has been mentioned above.
15 years ago, most Irish families had one car (if they were lucky) and there was a lot of hitchhiking. We had a great time and felt like we came in contact with more people then. At that time, most people had not traveled very far and to quote one person “oh, crime is something that might happen way over in a city like Dublin, but no where else.”
This time, it felt more like where the U.S. was in the 50’s and 60’s in that everyone had cars, interstates were being built, and the country was becoming much more mobile and prosperous.
While we can’t expect a country to remain rural and impoverished so we can have a quaint place to vacation, it sure is a shame to see it change.
I’m glad to see our Irish cousins improving their lot, God knows they’ve had enough of the down side. However, we are planning a trip with some other family members for next spring so we can make sure they see Ireland before the country we fell in love with 15 years ago is gone.
I know, all those Americans coming over and visiting is part of the problem!!
I wasn’t kidding at all in fact. A disappontment maybe for those who prefer the Bord Failte imgage of the place [did that really exist at any time anyway] Ireland is a modern first world country and you have to take the good sides with the bad. The IrTrad mailing list is at the moment dealing with one of the latter.
I wasn’t implying that there were hundreds of thousands that spoke Irish Gaelic here in the states. I was simply saying that if the station were provided, I’m sure there would be a great deal of interest by celtophiles, some that may understand the language, some that might have an interest in learning, and undoubtedly some that will simply watch it for the fun of hearing the language in a setting with context.
As for streaming video. Sure. It could be done, but I’d much prefer a better quality feed. Plus it’d be nice to see TG4 make some money off the sale of the rights to their station broadcast.
