Dear Readers,
Recently, Conor Pope’s article that highlighted the influential records of 13 reputable figures caught my eye (“Sonic Influences: From Ray D’Arcy to Chupi Sweetman, Joe Duffy, Pauline McLynn, Paul Howard and others”, Music, 20th April).
In all, there were 64 records enumerated, with merely a fraction (10) emanating from Ireland’s music scene – U2 having the honour of being mentioned twice. It was surprising to find a stark absence of Irish classical, jazz, blues and traditional musicians; all genres where we have a rich pool of internationally acclaimed talent. This is particularly intriguing when it comes to traditional music, since conventional wisdom asserts its widespread global appeal and significant influence on multiple international genres.
Drawing conclusions from the listed records, a statistician might sadly determine that Irish music lacks both popularity and influence. A keen observation for our musicians.
Sincerely,
Caoimhín MacAoidh,
Béal Átha Seanaigh,
Co Thír Chonaill.