Have Traditional Musicians No Ambition Beyond the Session?
Rossa Ó Snodaigh
Has the traditional session lost its way? Do traditional musicians still enjoy playing in pubs? Kíla whistle-player and percussionist Rossa Ó Snodaigh wonders why traditional musicians still do it...
The traditional music session, as we now know it today, is quite a recent development. Stimulated initially by the folk revivalists, it took off in earnest when tourists were stirred to seek settings offering tunes and ballads on their visits to Ireland. Publicans, some with laudable cultural ideals, were quick to invite musicians in to cater for the growing demand and many across the country suddenly found themselves in regular employment, plying their trade to a live audience and getting a few free drinks to boot.
However, it has got to the stage where, when summer approaches, every pub in the country reels in the musicians they refused entry to just a few days previous, then come September, they turf them out to make space for the karaoke machines.
Traditional musicians have put themselves at the mercy of market forces which have no more ambition for the music than the amount of pints a session will sell in comparison to a DJ’s set. One Dublin publican, who kept employing traditional musicians long after the tourist season was over, gave a very alarming answer when asked by the musicians why he continued to ask them back every week (when it was no secret that he disliked the music and no one came into to listen or drink). ‘You’re cheaper than bouncers and you keep the skangers out!’ was this cultural idealist’s...
