Participatory music in the Irish Gaeltacht

The dramatic modernisation that An Cheathrú Rua (Carraroe) in the Conamara Gaeltacht1 has experienced from the mid-twentieth century onwards, has brought about a state of technologically-induced social isolation2 amongst the local population. This feeling of social isolation is mirrored by the loudness of Conamara Country and Western (CC&W) performances, which inhibit verbal communication and therefore community bonding. In the past in Carraroe, the performance of sean-nós3 and Irish traditional music was a fully participatory, and a highly intimate event. As such, it helped to reinforce the community bonds essential for sustaining the area’s economy which, up until the early 1960s, was a co-operative labour system. The introduction of industry to Carraroe brought an end to this system, and, by extension, sean-nós lost its function in the community. To compound matters, due to the influence of Romantic nationalism, sean-nós is widely seen as an index of an idealised primitive Gaeltacht, which bears little resemblance to contemporary Gaeltacht life. CC&W music sung in Irish/Gaelic4 has become the dominant music genre of the area, partly because the cosmopolitan nature of CC&W subverts the primitive image of the Gaeltacht fostered by Romantic revivalists. Since Carraroe is one of Conamara’s major socialising hubs, it is, in my opinion, a synecdoche for the Conamara Gaeltacht.