Are Carolan tunes ITM?

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Flotineer
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Tell us something.: New fluter. Recovering piper... What with one thing and another I’m learning the flute, but I’ve been learning Irish music for a while now.

Are Carolan tunes ITM?

Post by Flotineer »

Came up in a discussion with a friend - are they? Many started with words,I believe, and could be considered airs, but is that The whole story?
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Mr.Gumby
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Re: Are Carolan tunes ITM?

Post by Mr.Gumby »

It could be argued that the music of the harpers is part of the, separate, bardic tradition that long since died out. That said, many traditional musicians in the last fifty years or so, post O'Riada, roughly, have embraced Carolan's tunes, arguably to add some variety to their (performance) repertoire.
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bigsciota
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Re: Are Carolan tunes ITM?

Post by bigsciota »

The borders of "ITM" are pretty fuzzy, and to be honest that fuzziness extends even to the heart of the tradition. However, it's worth noting that the tradition as we know if really took shape in the 19th century, and it could be argued that it was well into the 20th century that the definitions we know today started to come into focus. What is or is not "traditional" is not set in stone, and in fact change is much more of a constant than any aspect besides a few at the very core. A person transporting themself back 100 years to 1921 would probably recognize a good bit of what they heard, but there would still be plenty of difference to what you'd expect today. Go back 150 years and things would start seeming fairly different indeed, in terms of instrumentation, repertoire, and aesthetic. 200 years, even more so, 250.. etc. to the point that at some point the "traditional" music of Ireland becomes utterly unrecognizable compared to what we would consider "traditional Irish music" today. That point, by the way, is much more recent than the "ancient Celtic music" PR people would have you believe!

Which is all to say two things. One, as Mr. Gumby points out, O'Carolan tunes are part of a traditional Irish music, which is worth something I suppose. And two, since many O'Carolan tunes have been taken up wholeheartedly by traditional Irish musicians and have been for decades now, I would certainly count them as part of "ITM." They'd occupy a place adjacent airs and performance pieces like the fox hunt, not meant for the dancing floor or session but better suited to being a party or concert piece.
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