Ireland: A Nation’s Memory (1973) September 24, 2012
Posted by irishelectionliterature in Culture.trackback
“This is the first documentary of a series for the French 3rd National Channel, which follows the history of a country according to the local music, produced by Claude Fleouter and Roviros Manthoulis.
Interesting if kind of amazingly skewed in its focus on O’Riada important figure though he was. It’s interesting to see how over-represented both O’Riada and the big seventies bands tend to be in documentaries precisely because they fit the model the film-makers are comfortable with i.e. a classical composer working with folk material and a band with a lead man, lead instrumentalist playing gigs.
I actually think the Johnny Doherty documentary which I think you uploaded earlier is truer to the music in some ways. Or indeed a very good doc on Sean Keane shown recently on Come West Along The Road. The whole ‘Irish traditional music was crap and then O’Riada came along and we were into the modern age,’ ignores the excellent musicians who’d been playing away without much notice in the previous decades (and weren’t that bothered about the lack of notice.) And, in fairness, the members of Planxty were always extremely quick to draw attention to the genius of such musicians. As was O’Riada in his Our Musical Heritage series.
But interesting stuff all the same IEL, you’re like a one man Ubuweb sometimes.
This is something else, isn’t it?
To continue the French theme, perhaps this could be a question for the next CLR political quiz. Why is the tune of this song so horribly familiar?
Good God ! Was that song used in a Party Political Broadcast by FF in either 2002 or 2007?
That Johny Doran clip is fantastic .
Used by them in one of the early eighties elections. It began, “In Fianna Fail we work together,” and then dumty dummed along before ending with, “Vote Fianna Fail.” It followed Fine Gael’s song, sung by Denis ‘Limerick You’re A Lady,’ Allen which went, “Fine Gael Fine Gael a brand new leader we hail/led by Garret the man you know/you won’t be taking a chance/look to the future not past.” I was a bit obsessive about those 81 and 82 elections and kept scrapbooks, lots of them.
IIRC Fianna Fail got in a bit of trouble with Monsieur Sardou because they never told him they were commandeering his song. Their raiding of Chansons for electoral purposes makes me wish they’d gone on and chosen someone like Serge Gainsbourg, perhaps to the tune of Je T’Aime, “Fianna Failaiail Fianna Fail,” with the sound of the voters being screwed in the background.
The Doran clip is great. Have you the tape with the complete recordings on it, brilliant stuff. My father used to be friendly with his brother Felix on the trad scene back in the day, a terrific piper in his own right.
Pavee Point actually put out a very good CD which I have, Travellers and Fellow Travellers, on the Traveller tradition in Irish music including both Dorans, Johnny Doherty, Paddy Keenan and John Reilly.
look to the future not past
Any politician who says this needs a custard pie. As indeed does anybody singing it.