Riverdance and Irish Traditional Music

Adrian Scahill

doi:10.4000/books.puc.7072

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Riverdance and Irish Traditional Music

Adrian Scahill

p. 43-54

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This essay examines the complex and ambiguous relationship between Riverdance and Irish traditional music. It explores whether the show can be considered as a global representation of a local music, and if a form of musical exoticism is at work here. It further considers how the music of the show reflects the modernisations and hybridisations that occur in contemporary traditional music.

Cet article analyse la relation complexe et ambiguë qu’entretient Riverdance avec la musique traditionnelle irlandaise. Nous nous poserons la question de savoir si ce spectacle peut être considéré comme représentation globale d’une musique locale, et si nous sommes face à une forme d’exotisme musical. Nous nous interrogerons aussi sur la manière dont la musique du spectacle reflète les processus de modernisation et d’hybridation qui sont à l’œuvre dans la musique traditionnelle contemporaine.

Note de l’éditeur

An earlier, shorter version of this article appeared in New Hibernia Review, vol. 13, nº 2, 2009, a journal of Irish studies published by the University of St Thomas.

Extrait

1The reading of Riverdance as a mirror of and a metaphor for Ireland’s metamorphosis into the Celtic Tiger has become an enduring (if not clichéd) trope within Irish cultural studies. The parallels between it and the economic boom of this period are remarkable – both the term “Celtic Tiger” and the show date from 1994; both peaked around 2000-2001, when Riverdance was resident in the Gershwin Theatre on Broadway; and both have been in decline since then – the current show has been significantly scaled down, both in terms of the numbers and the prominence of the performers. Coinciding at a time when Ireland was frequently ranked as the world’s most globalised economy, Riverdance and other forms of Celtic Tiger culture have been critiqued as articulations of this globalisation – inextricable from the marketing and commodification of “brand Ireland”, understandable not as simply Irish or local, but approachable only from a global context.2 In these readings, the show is expressiv

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2 See G. Honor Fagan, “Globalized Ireland, or, Contemporary Transformations of National Identity?”, in The End of Irish History? Critical Approaches to the “Celtic Tiger”, Colin Coulter, Steve Coleman (eds.), Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2003, p. 114-117.

3 See Denis O’Hearn, Inside the Celtic Tiger: The Irish Economy and the Asian Model, London, Pluto Press, 1998, p. 117.

4 Patrick J. Mathews, “In Praise of ‘Hibernocentrism’: Republicanism, Globalization and Irish Culture”, The Republic: A Journal of Contemporary and Historical Debate, vol. 4, 2005, p. 9-10.

5 See “Phantom and Riverdance Triumph”, Sound Post, vol. 4, nº 1, 2006, p. 4.

6 Patrick J. Mathews, “‘Doing Something Irish’: From Thomas Moore to Riverdance”, The Art of Popular Culture: From “The Meeting of the Waters” to “Riverdance”, Patrick J. Mathews (series editor), UCDscholarscast, Series I, http://www.ucd.ie/scholarcast/transcripts/Doing_Something_Irish.pdf.

7 Georgina Born, David Hesmondhalgh, “Introduction: On Difference, Representation, and Appropriation in Music. I. Othering, Hybridity, and Fusion in Transnational Popular Musics”, in Western Music and Its Others: Difference, Representation, and Appropriation in Music, Georgina Born, David Hesmondhalgh (eds.), Berkeley, University of California Press, 2000, p. 28.

8 Veit Erlmann, “The Aesthetics of the Global Imagination: Reflections on World Music in the 1990s”, Public Culture, vol. 8, 1996, p. 475.

9 Nicholas Carolan, quoted in Barra Ó Cinnéide, Riverdance: The Phenomenon, Dublin, Blackhall Press, 2002, p. 44.

10 Natasha Casey, “Riverdance: The Importance of Being Irish American”, New Hibernia Review, vol. 6, nº 4, 2002, p. 12.

11 Victoria White, “When Irish Went Flamenco”, The Irish Times, May 5, 1994.

12 Marie McCarthy, “Changing Cultural Landscapes: The Co-Existence of Musical Genres in Irish Culture and Education”, Irish Studies Review, vol. 12, nº 1, 2004, p. 53.

13 Leith Davis, Music, Postcolonialism, and Gender: The Construction of Irish National Identity 1724-1874, Notre Dame, University of Notre Dame Press, 2006, p. 231.

14 G. Honor Fagan, “Globalized Ireland…”, p. 117.

15 Kieran Keohane, Carmen Kuhling, Collision Culture: Transformations in Everyday Life in Ireland, Dublin, Liffey Press, 2004, p. 75.

16 Bill Whelan, Toner Quinn, “Ireland’s Dance with Music: Riverdance Composer Bill Whelan in Conversation with Toner Quinn”, The Journal of Music in Ireland, vol. 8, nº 4, July / August 2008, p. 30.

17 See Patrick J. Mathews, “In Praise of ‘Hibernocentrism’…”, p. 11.

18 Adam Kaul, “The Limits of Commodification in Traditional Irish Music Sessions”, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, vol. 13, nº 3, 2007, p. 703-719; Moya Kneafsey, “Sessions and Gigs: Tourism and Traditional Music in North Mayo, Ireland: Extracts from a Field Diary”, Ecumene: Journal of Environment, Culture, Meaning, vol. 9, nº 2, 2002, p. 354-358.

19 See Samuel Colin Hamilton, The Role of Commercial Recordings in the Development of Irish Traditional Music, 1899-1993, PhD thesis, University of Limerick, 1996, p. 214-215.

20 See Fintan Vallely, “Tiger Ireland, Turd-Sniffers and Meta-Trad: People, Power and the Pursuit of Privileged Status in Music in Ireland”, The Journal of Music in Ireland, vol. 7, nº 2, March / April 2007, p. 13.

21 See Barbara O’Connor, “Riverdance”, in Encounters with Modern Ireland: A Sociological Chronicle, 1995-1996, Michel Peillon, Eamonn Slater (eds.), Dublin, Institute of Public Administration, 1998, p. 53-54.

22 Philip V. Bohlman, The Study of Folk Music in the Modern World, Bloomington – Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1988, p. 139.

23 Laurent Aubert, The Music of the Other: New Challenges for Ethnomusicology in a Global Age [2001], Carla Ribeiro (trans.), Aldershot, Ashgate, 2007, p. 53.

24 John Connell, Chris Gibson, “World music: Deterritorializing Place and Identity”, Progress in Human Geography, vol. 28, nº 3, 2004, p. 347.

25 See Jonathan D. Kramer, “The Nature and Origins of Musical Postmodernism”, in Postmodern Music / Postmodern Thought, Judy Lochhead, Joseph Auner (eds.), New York – London, Routledge, 2002, p. 16-17.

26 Andy Nercessian, Postmodernism and Globalization in Ethnomusicology: An Epistemological Problem, Lanham – London, Scarecrow Press, 2002, p. 15.

27 Jonathan D. Kramer, “The Nature and Origins of Musical Postmodernism”, p. 22.

28 Robert P. Morgan, “Rethinking Musical Culture: Canonic Reformulations in a Post-Tonal Age”, in Disciplining Music: Musicology and its Canons, Katherine Bergeron, Philip V. Bohlman (eds.), Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1992, p. 58.

29 Ibid., p. 59.

30 Claire Spreadbury, Bill Whelan, “Riverdance Revisited with Bill Whelan”, Irish Dancing, May 2003, p. 59.

31 Hazel V. Carby, “What is this ‘Black’ in Irish Popular Culture?”, European Journal of Cultural Studies, vol. 4, nº 3, 2001, p. 329.

32 Ralph P. Locke, “A Broader View of Musical Exoticism”, The Journal of Musicology, vol. 24, nº 4, 2007, p. 477-521.

33 Tara Brabazon, Paul Stock, “‘We Love You Ireland’: Riverdance and Stepping Through Antipodean Memory”, Irish Studies Review, vol. 7, nº 3, 1999, p. 305.

34 Barbara O’Connor, “Riverdance”, p. 56.

35 Jonathan Bellman, “Introduction”, in The Exotic in Western Music, Jonathan Bellman (ed.), Boston, Northeastern University Press, 1998, p. ix.

36 John Connell, Chris Gibson, “World Music…”, p. 349.

37 Ralph P. Locke, “A Broader View of Musical Exoticism”, p. 481.

38 Phil Ford, “Taboo: Time and Belief in Exotica”, Representations, vol. 103, nº 1, summer 2008, p. 108.

39 See Timothy D. Taylor, Global Pop: World Music, World Markets, New York – London, Routledge, 1997, p. 143.

40 See Leith Davis, Music, Postcolonialism, and Gender…, p. 227.

41 Phil Ford, “Taboo: Time and Belief in Exotica”, p. 108, 111.

42 Ibid., p. 112.

43 See Sean Williams, “Irish Music and the Experience of Nostalgia in Japan”, Asian Music, vol. 37, nº 1, 2006, p. 114-115.

44 Tara Brabazon, Paul Stock, “‘We Love You Ireland’…”, p. 305.

45 See Kieran Keohane, Carmen Kuhling, Collision Culture…, p. 155.

46 Sam Smyth, Riverdance: The Story, London, Andre Deutsh, 1996, p. 14.

47 Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, “Riverdance: The Music”, in Riverdance: The Show, theatre programme, n.d., p. 15.

48 Fintan O’Toole, The Ex-Isle of Erin: Images of a Global Ireland, Dublin, New Island Books, 1997, p. 152.

49 See Claire Spreadbury, Bill Whelan, “Riverdance Revisited with Bill Whelan”, p. 59.

50 Barbara O’Connor, “Riverdance”, p. 52.

51 Sarah Weiss, “Permeable Boundaries: Hybridity, Music, and the Reception of Robert Wilson’s I La Galigo”, Ethnomusicology, vol. 52, nº 2, 2008, p. 219.

Music and the Irish Imagination

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Music and the Irish Imagination

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Référence numérique du chapitre

Scahill, A. (2013). Riverdance and Irish Traditional Music. In T. Dubost & A. Slaby (éds.), Music and the Irish Imagination (1‑). Presses universitaires de Caen. https://doi.org/10.4000/books.puc.7080

Scahill, Adrian. « Riverdance and Irish Traditional Music ». In Music and the Irish Imagination, édité par Thierry Dubost et Alexandra Slaby. Caen: Presses universitaires de Caen, 2013. https://doi.org/10.4000/books.puc.7080.

Scahill, Adrian. « Riverdance and Irish Traditional Music ». Music and the Irish Imagination, édité par Thierry Dubost et Alexandra Slaby, Presses universitaires de Caen, 2013, https://doi.org/10.4000/books.puc.7080.

Référence numérique du livre

Dubost, T., & Slaby, A. (éds.). (2013). Music and the Irish Imagination (1‑). Presses universitaires de Caen. https://doi.org/10.4000/books.puc.7072

Dubost, Thierry, et Alexandra Slaby, éd. Music and the Irish Imagination. Caen: Presses universitaires de Caen, 2013. https://doi.org/10.4000/books.puc.7072.

Dubost, Thierry, et Alexandra Slaby, éditeurs. Music and the Irish Imagination. Presses universitaires de Caen, 2013, https://doi.org/10.4000/books.puc.7072.

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