The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #41161   Message #593803
Posted By: Aidan Crossey
16-Nov-01 - 05:47 AM
Thread Name: Which Irish Troubles Songs are Offensive
Subject: RE: Which Irish Troubles Songs are Offensive
I think there's a more interesting question here ... which is why would anyone who's not from Ireland (and particularly Northern Ireland) want to sing these songs in the first place? What's the relevance? Using "Come Out ..." as an example, what could a non-Irish person singing this song to a non-Irish audience possibly say?

There are some who would say that unless a person's shared some of the experience that gave rise to the need to write and sing these particular songs, then they've no call to sing them ... (The same's not true of all folk music ... but rebel songs and Orange songs are preaching to the converted ... I wouldn't look to them for insights into history ... but some of them very well illustrate how imagery, pathos and sentimentality among other things can be used to perpetuate a mindset.)

Back in County Armagh, people don't need to the ask the question ...