A Challenge to Academics and Pundits
Fintan Vallely
A review of the recently published Music In Ireland.
Music in Ireland: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture
Dorothea E. Hast and Stanley Scott / Part of the ‘Global Music Series’, Series Editors: Bonnie C. Wade and Patricia Shehan Campbell. Oxford University Press USA, CD includedstg£23.99 (hb) ISBN: 0 19 514554-2, stg£12.99 (pb), ISBN: 0 195 14555 0
This is a book long overdue in traditional-music educational publishing. It will be reviewed here with respect to its two dimensions – the actual content and structure, and, at greater length, the quite profound ideological issues that its production at this time in the world raise.
Music in Ireland is arguably what education providers have been waiting for – essentially an ethnomusicological study of traditional music in performance, which moves away from the strictly parochial and national, but yet presents music and song as involving both individuals and communities. A deceptively slim volume, like the tardus, once the reader enters they are continually surprised at the matrix-like relocation to new historic, geographic and social locations. It is not only an accessible document in size and style for both second- and third-level students, it is a refreshing read for anyone inside the music, and particularly for those who would like to get an all-in synopsis.
It is strong...
