A Chara,

Mr Terry Moylan’s answer to Rossa Ó Snodaigh’s article ‘Nua Traditional/Ceol Nua Dúchasach’ in last month’s JMI was, I felt, in the spirit of the child who refuses to share his markers with the other children. ‘They’re my markers. Get your own ones!’ was the underlying voice in Moylan’s article.

Although his rejection of Ó Snodaigh’s system of classification was not surprising, his remarkable failure to grasp what lies at the heart of this piece of writing was.

Ó Snodaigh’s argument is essentially a plea for a new, more embracing and more inclusive ethnography of Irish music. Rather than listen to the essence of this message, Moylan, by turning the argument into a rather petty battle of facts and semantics, only further emphasises the need for this new attitude of inclusion that Ó Snodaigh is trying to encourage.

Ireland is a rapidly changing nation, Mr Moylan, and it may be wise for you, and others of similar mind, to start sharing those markers that you keep such a tight hold of so we can perhaps paint a more colourful Ireland.

Is mise, le meas,

Róisín Loughrey
Dublin 8

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