Irish Songs:

Traditional Irish songs can be broken down into two very general categories; the slow ballad songs and the fast-paced dancing songs, both of which have several subcategories. There is a song for just about every eventuality in Irish music; laments, drinking songs, rebel songs, love songs, humorous songs, and of course, dancing songs.

Sean Nós is an especially famous type of Irish song. Sean Nós songs are always sung unaccompanied by a single person in the Irish language. The words and music are of equal importance, and were passed down orally from generation to generation. Songs are sung with free rhythm, speeding up and slowing down according to the words and their expression. It has a nasal tone quality and due to its slow, melodic style, songs are usually about miserable topics like death, famine and oppression. Needless to say, they don’t exactly get the party started!

Dancing songs are infinitely more popular than Sean Nós songs, and are almost always accompanied by a ceilidh (a group of dancers who dance in a simple formation that interchanges partners and directions at various intervals), so they’re not only a lot of fun, but can get somewhat chaotic too! There are three main subcategories of dancing music; jigs, reels, and hornpipes.

The reel is the most common form of Irish dance tune, said to be brought to Ireland from Scotland in the 18th century. They are quite fast paced with 4/4 or 2/2 timing. Jigs are even faster in tempo, with 6/8 or 12/8 timing and some varieties are usually danced by women. Hornpipes are slower than jigs and reels, usually played to give musicians a bit of a rest after the vigorous faster songs! They begin with an upbeat rhythm and then even out into a dotted rhythm with triplets. The dancing that accompanies hornpipe songs is very intricate. Dancers wear hard shoes as this type of song was originally adapted purely as a show piece.

As well as dancing music, which is almost exclusively instrumental, there are plenty of songs that include lyrics too, some of which are world famous while others are only known in certain parts of Ireland. Some of the more popular songs include;

• Dirty Old Town

• The Wild Rover

• The Fields of Athenry

• Whiskey in the Jar

• The Rose of Tralee

• Spancil Hill

• Danny Boy

• The Rare Old Times

• The Green Fields of France

• Carrickfergus

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