Irishy

In the wake of our Irish Festival Directors conference in Nova Scotia, I'd brought up the subject last week of the presence of Acadian and other Canadian Celtic music at "Irish" festivals, including ours here in Kansas City. As often happens, others more eloquent than I am come to my rescue and sum up a subject perfectly. In this case it's my friend Barry Stapleton of the Milwaukee Irish Fest and the Ward Irish Music Archive:

Dan asks (and answers) the question should "Irish Fests" be hiring artists with names such as Dominique DuPuis and J.P. Cormier who, it would seem also do very little Irish music. His answer is that although not a pure Irish music it is closely related.

Dan is correct. I look at some of this stuff from a genealogy standpoint. First of all Scottish Traditional music is very clearly the closest thing to Irish Traditional music. It has more Classical influences and has differences but it's very close, kind of like a step-brother.

Nova Scotia's music comes from its people. A mix clearly associated with Scotch & Irish settlers. Added in is the French Acadian influence. So I kind of consider this music as a first cousin to Irish Traditional Music.

In 1999 we hired La Bottine Souriante here in Milwaukee. While we were quite sure they would be well received, I expected to hear a great deal of criticism because they were not "Irish". La Bottine was one of our biggest hits in our history and we didn't hear any complaints that I'm aware of. So this kind of opened the door for musical exploration.

Also it should be noted that many of these great musicians from Canada, because of their Celtic influences, would have no problem in fitting in at the Irish sessions at your hotels or pubs after the fest.

Another similar issue is Rock or contemporary music from Ireland. In 2001 we hired Dara, a popular band from Dublin. They were just a great rock band from Ireland. I don't think there was a drop of "Irish" music in their presentation...but they were from Ireland.

It is important that festivals that have a name like "Milwaukee Irish Fest" have a majority of acts that are considered Irish or Irish-American. But I also think we have a duty as presenters to showcase all the different influences and relationships this music has throughout the world.

I agree with Barry 100%. Of course, ultimately the winners are our patrons who get to hear great Irish and Celtic influenced music on our stages...no matter who happens to be playing it and no matter what language they happen to be singing in.