Due 1.31.06 9:20am: Reading III Ó hAllmhuráin
As described in class and on WebCT, you are asked to respond via the "Comments" function to ONE of the questions about the reading. Please complete this "Comment" response to one of the following questions by Tuesday 1.31.06 9:20am.
Ó hAllmhuráin: 25-46 “Music in Early and Mediaeval Ireland” and “Tudor and Stuart Ireland”
These chapters pick up the history of music in Ireland from approximately the time of the Fianna (after 100AD), where our history lecture left off.
- What aspects of very early Celtic esthetics seem to have been maintained in later periods: about music’s power, about musician’s role, about the treatment of musicians, about music’s job in retaining cultural history and cultural identity?
- Note the dates and the protagonists of the various English invasions, note the response of the invaders to music and language, and ask yourself why invaders saw music and language as such severe potential threats.
posted by CJS @ 11:50 AM
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I believe that each of the invaders viewed music and language as great threats because of the political power each of them wields. If there's one thing that I learned in my past music history classes, it is that music & language are primary ways to spread ideas and opinions of many people. The invaders basically did their best to slow any music and language expansion in the effort not only to attempt to prevent political opinions from spreading, but also to establish more control. If you take away music, you take away an important part of a culture's identity.
Many of the invaders of Ireland suppressed Gaelic culture. Irish music and language posed as threats to outsiders because they created a sense of nationalistic pride and community that united the widespread Irish people against opposing forces. King Henry VIII didn’t prosecute poets and musicians because he didn’t like Celtic music or poetry (he incorporated Irish cultural entertainment into his own court). A united body of Irish people represented a more real danger than a handful of scattered farmers.
the idea of the musicians being beholden to a patron, or patrons, is one that survived with few exceptions until turlough carolan's time in the 18th century. in the earlier times, the upper class families kept "hereditary bards" while later they had many patrons the traveled around performing for. also, the musician's high ranking status, both as the educated poet and as historian, has been maintained throughout periods in irish history. in medieval times, when the only option for preserving history was through story telling, the bards, after being taught and trained to remember the stories and collect new ones as events happened, sat in the place of honour next to the patron who employed them. today, if you can play an instrument, or tell a story, or sing a song, you will be greeted with encouragement and "a hush for the performer" even if you are a complete stranger.
Invaders of Ireland saw music and language as a threat because they symbolized a national pride and glory, and the musicians and storytellers carried on stories of hope for the future and of Ireland's great past. The invaders knew that, in order to properly subjugate a people, they needed to stifle all sense of community and national identity. Taking away the music and language that the Irish people had in common made it harder for them to connect with one another and with their glorious past, thus making it easier to force them into a new way of life.
Invaders typically see any kind of foreign culture as a threat. It is the most difficult thing for any invader to conquer and is typically the last thing a victorious invading force gets rid of. If the invaders do not conquer the foreign culture, the conquered will retain a very important bond between each other. The only way to truly conquer another country is by extinguishing that country's culture. With music and stories (culture), people can remember their past and why they should hate their conquerers. Music and stories can help fuel resistance movements and can help unite a conquered people. Music and stories are very powerful things and should never be underestimated. By trying to get rid of the old music and stories, the invaders of Ireland were trying to destroy Ireland's history so the Irish would not resist.
Music and language, especially in a world where printing has not been invented, and written documents are all too rare and expensive to those who can even read, are the main source of communication. And communication is meant in the broadest of terms. Music and language serve as the society’s means to spread information, celebrate, remember, and teach—to function. Without music or language the society basically has lost its identity. If a conquering body wants to assimilate a society or group of people, destroying the identity of that people will greatly aid in their efforts. Without a means of communication, political power and the chance or a revolting body to gain power is greatly diminished. Thus, the invaders saw the music and language of these people a grave threat to their conquest.
It doesn't take a genius to realize why invaders of Ireland saw music and poetry as threats to their power. Music and poetry can be about anything and can contain hidden messages that those in authority would not understand. This united the Irish and gave them a sense of community to hold on to while the invaders were taking over. Naturally, the invaders felt threatened by this unity and wanted to get rid of it. If they could rid the country of its native culture, they could have complete control over the people and they would do whatever they were told, giving the invaders even more power. We see this same idea numerous times throughout history and in several countries, including the United States. The same idea goes with the Irish language also. If the invaders couldn't understand what the Irish were saying, they couldn't do anything to them for talking against them. This is yet another form of unity that the Irish used, and one that the invaders wanted to do away with.
There are quite a few reasons why invaders saw music as such potential threats. Music and language create a cultural identity. The easiest way to invade is to conquer and then force the conquered to assimilate your beliefs. Eliminating the music and language of a defeated culture goes a long way towards that goal. Language is incredibly dangerous to an invading force because it provides a means of communication that the conquering force does not understand. Music and language are both incredibly powerful tools to use in an uprising because they provide identity and a way to communicate.
In the history of all the invasions and conflicts that arised in Ireland, music seems to have been a forté that allowed the Cletic tradition and culture to survive. One example that I very much enjoyed reading was about the Norse invaders who ended up staying in Ireland, learning the language, and adopting the culture. Music, as well as poetry, held a certain attention and respect. It is fascinating to me to see how whenever a kingdom would divide there was a dispute or draw over who took the poet and who took the harpist. The power of music and poetry was seen as a great gift that demanded reverence. Perhaps the tales of perseverant musicians created a deeper sense of honor for them. htere are different accounts where the three types of music (laughing, sleeping, and weeping) were used by a kingdom's musician to gain something from another kingdom. The accounts I've heard usually end up where the sleeping music puts every one in a deep sleep allowing for the musician/pursuer to snatch what he's looking for and flee.
When you look at the later history of Ireland, mainly in the time of the British invasions, even these entities realized that Irish music was powerful. One Lord had Irish pipers play on the battle field. There were some laws passed to end the tradition of music and poetry in Ireland; however, these efforts were futile because the tradition are like genes. Their passed from one generation to the next, and one cannot simply take gene from you. I see the Irish tradition of music and folklore this way. No matter how hard outer forces attempted to destroy the culture, in the end, the culture was passed on to them.
Many leaders havae come into Ireland and persecuted the musicians. Traditional music has stayed strong in Ireland even though the musicians were often banned or killed because it acts as a unifyinf force among the Irish people. For tht reason, many invaders wanted to limit music because they did not want to help spread a spirit of Irish nationalism. The music continued to survive amidst the persecution because traditional music tells the history of the country. For example, many of the songs that were addressed in the section are laments for war heros or others to keep the legacy of that person alive.
As everyone has said, music and literature are key mediums for holding on to a national identity. It's completely logical that invaders wanted to eliminate it. Literature has always been a way for people to express political commentary in subtle ways by disguising it as fiction. I can't remember a single book studied in an english class that didn't have some kind of social or political commentary. Music is the same way. I remember from my music history classes that even great and famous composers like Prokofiev, Mahler, and Wagner were banned because their governments acknowledged the persuasive power that even purely instrumental music could have on the public and wanted to put a cease to it. Both literature and music could be catastrophic when used against any sort of regime.
Music is a portable, highly infiltrative carrier of culture. Therefore, if your goal is to eradicate a culture in lieu of imposing your own, it follows that the music of the undesired culture must also be eradicated.
Musicians were a reminder and carrier of the old culture, one that was definitely preferable over the model that the Tudor rulers offered the Irish people, a reminder that the English didn't want hanging around; it threatened their objective of cultural genocide.
Irish bards and musicians carried much of the history; the knowledge of the origins of their people. What better way to kill off a culture than to take away their origins?
It says a lot about the Irish and the power/importance of their music that the ordered killing of bards and harpers by Elizabeth I actually "bolstered the role of the musician as a custodian of culture."
Note the dates and the protagonists of the various English invasions, note the response of the invaders to music and language, and ask yourself why invaders saw music and language as such severe potential threats.
The reading specifically addresses in the Elizabethan era that the music reinforced the “distinct Irish identity in opposition to Elizabethan occupation of the island.” I think this was true for many of the rulers that attempted to control the Irish people. The Irish knew that if they could cling to their culture, the music and folklore that was in their hearts, something that nobody could take away from them, they would remain united and could withstand the rule of someone who they felt did not belong there. In addition, as in the instance of the Battle of Kinsale, the bards and musicians would sing of the fights and of the rebels who defied the throne, thus immortalizing the acts and making the Irish who committed “treason” heroes. The multiple rulers all knew that as long as the Irish hung onto that unifying common ground, they could never successfully take over the land.
Inavaders say music and language as such a threat because it could be seen as the "heart" of a culture. Music can be used to inspire a defeated people to rise up and fight against the conquerers. So it is only natural for an invading army to try to contain the spread of music and lanquage to help maintain control of the conquered. The sense of community and unification created by music and lanquage is a force to be reckoned with.
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