Irish
music. Good Irish ballads, tunes and Republican
songs. Where do you find it?
Certainly it is extremely difficult in West Belfast,
nevermind anywhere else.
I
had an American friend over to visit in June. This
guy is a sharp cookie, being a former Chief Investigator
in the State Attorney's office in Albany, New York.
We were in Kinsale for the point to point racing,
and after the racing the usual pints and singsong
with the Cork boys who have become used to us this
past 4 or 5 years.
There's
no nonsense about songs offending anyone. "Sure
why would they? Aren't we in Ireland?"
Back
home in Belfast we went round the usual haunts,
the PD, the Rock Bar, you know the usual sort of
stuff.
I
couldn't tell him where to go to hear the songs
he wanted, and I wasn't playing anywhere myself.
(A little bird told me I was persona non grata with
the powers that be because of my political views
and stance.) I was at a total loss.
Being
a forthright Yank, he asked the question a lot of
people would like answered.
"Are
you guys afraid to sing songs that might offend
the Unionists? It's your history in ballads that
Americans like to hear and identify with. Is Sinn
Fein so out on a limb that they want to do nothing
that might annoy them?"
Do
you know, I couldn't answer him.
