By: Savannah Ikach
As both an avid music enjoyer and performer, I am constantly observing the music in my sphere. Whether music is performed right in front of me, playing in a car passing by, or even casually playing in the stores, I am always aware of the music around me. I will sing along or tell those around me immediately what the song is and who it’s by. I am also the first to bust out into song when anyone says a line quoted in a song. When debating what to focus on while abroad, one of my immediate interests was the music. I love to consume it and I knew that I would want to do it tenfold when not in my normal habitat. That being said, I wanted to go through all of my experiences with music while in the land of the leprechauns.
Prior to my arrival in Ireland, I always associated the country with Irish pub music paired with dancing to match it. My experience felt more along the lines of the more musical restaurants and bars of Pittsburgh. There was live music in quite a lot of places, but many of them were playing American music. This seemed to be a theme amongst a lot of Irish places. During one of our guest lectures, we learned that this is rather common, both for live music and on Irish radio. Roddy Flynn spoke about how a lot of Irish culture, at least with media-related sectors, is very dependent on American culture. Many of the songs popular in the U.S. are then popular also in Ireland. Along with that, it isn’t often that an Irish musician is popular and on radios in Ireland if they are not big elsewhere. Some examples of this are Ed Sheeran, Niall Horan, Hozier, and The Cranberries. Since these musicians are also popular in the States, they are then popular and played on radio back in Ireland.
I suppose I was aware that the United States had such a significant influence on other English-speaking countries, but I suppose I did not consider it from a music perspective. Many times when I was experiencing live music at a pub the musicians were playing songs like “Hotel California” and “Sweet Caroline.” It was partially comforting since it sounded like home, but was rather disorienting everytime I realized I was in a different country. I do recognize, however, that this could be due to the fact that many Americans frequent Dublin and so the music is probably also catered by the artists in that way.
During the daytime and outside of the pubs, there were a significant number of musicians stationed along Grafton Street, the main tourist shopping strip in Dublin. This reminded me of some tourist locations at home such as New York City. It was not surprising that those musicians typically played more American music or sometimes some Niall Horan or One Direction. I was more excited to hear the latter as a fan of those musicians. Despite the unexpected American music everywhere, I did take note how musical of a city Dublin is. If you walk along the streets late at night, especially along the Temple Bar area, you are bound to hear music oozing out of the walls of pubs.
In casual public spaces, such as malls and shops, I kept my ear open to what made the playlists for background noise. There was a lot of general pop and music that could be heard in a Target back home. I did notice more Niall Horan playing in the stores there than back in the States. I have a feeling there is a certain pride that comes with Irish musicians that gain popularity elsewhere. They are played more frequently in Ireland.
A musical experience I was not expecting to receive while abroad was church music. I grew up singing in my church’s choir, but it has been a while since those memories. I still love the sound of many choral hymns, however, and find the harmonies to be quite satisfying and grand sounding. Some of the first big places that would actually pay composers way back when were churches, so many musicians throughout time have started through the church. With Christian churches wanting to praise God, the hymns are legitimately made to sound like an ever present force, the harmonies making the piece sound bigger than the choir is. Although this may be the purpose of these songs, it isn’t always executed in a grand way by choirs, but Christ Church was on another level. I am not often brought to tears, but something about the choir and that church brought genuine tears to my eyes not once but twice. No matter what anyone may say about the music in Ireland, they have the grandness of church choral hymns perfected.
While the trip was mostly stationed around Dublin, I did have the experience to spend extra time in Belfast where I observed a small portion of the music scene. My most notable observation has to do with what people were listening to in their cars. Many times as a car was passing by I heard EDM or some kind of house music playing. It truly felt like I was being passed by multiple Eurovision fans. As for public spaces, multiple eateries my group and I visited were playing early 2010s American pop hits. There was also less live music around than Dublin. I did have a nice conversation with a man at Colin Glen about Tate McRae, a popular music artist in the U.S. who is from Canada, because he was wearing a t-shirt from her tour he just saw.
My perception of music in Ireland definitely managed to shift over the course of the trip. Seeing a drag queen perform to Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated” and hearing music made popular in America all over Ireland was unexpected. This being said, I believe Ireland has a musical heart and there is more to see and listen to than what I experienced in less than a month. I will return and soak up even more performances and music than I already did.