The Art of Defiance - Rebel Songs
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Rebel songs can be a sore subject to some people involved in the Celtic music scene, both musicians and listeners. It isn’t a love or hate paradigm, as many folks just enjoy the music without thinking too much about the undercurrents. Others are disturbed by the sometimes graphic descriptions of violence or executions, or the call for more of the same. However, I’m not sure that it’s possible (or desirable) to separate rebel songs from Celtic music. There is a Celtic, and particularly Irish, tradition of warrior poets and singers that spans centuries, from Fionn MacCumhaill, (modernized to Finn MacCool) to James Connolly, to Bobby Sands.
Anyone who’s read very many of my reviews probably knows that I personally love rebel songs. The reason isn’t that I’m addicted to violence, but because I find the passion of them so compelling. Undoubtedly the very effectiveness of this music to communicate it’s message is why some of these songs have been outlawed in years past. (And why you won’t hear a Derek Warfield song onboard an Aer Lingus flight.) In spite of the bans, people keep singing, but why? Rich Stevenson , a Celtic musician, responded to Kris Vera-Phillips in an interview for a Topeka, Kansas news television with these words when he was asked what exactly Irish rebel songs are rebelling against -
“The simple “one word” answer to the question is: Tyranny. Within the answer “Tyranny” lies: Oppression, conscription, internment, partition, apartheid and religious persecution. The extended answer is a people’s 800 year struggle for freedom at the hands of a ruthless oppressor. In this 800 year struggle, nearly every generation of Irish has “risen up” against British rule. At one point in Irish history, it was also treasonous to speak in their native tongue, to use the Gaelic spelling of their names, or sing songs of Ireland or of her patriot heroes.”
In the face of this tyranny, sometimes it was possible to resist through armed fighting, but rebel songs kept the hope for freedom and autonomy alive even when physical resistance was impracticable. The vitality of these songs and the affection that people still have for them stems partially from this and also from the rich Celtic tradition of singing and oral histories, which is combined here. Unfortunately history is often drenched in blood, and a catalogue of music that removed those songs that detailed the realities of battle and it’s consequences, and the difficulties of life in an occupied and beleaguered country, would be a sanitized and soulless travesty.
The persecution of harpers and the attempted suppression of republican songs has a history almost as long as that of the rebel songs themselves. Odds are, if you know the name of a rebel song, it has been or still is banned in one place or another. (Particularly in Pubs in Northern Ireland, or on British radio stations.) A few of the most likely to be banned songs include Back Home in Derry, The Fenians’ Escape, and any song that prominently mentions guns, such as My Little Armalite or The Armagh Sniper.
Rebel songs continue to endure in Ireland, Scotland, The United States, Canada, and everywhere that Irish and Scottish immigrants settle. Men and women who died many years ago, and potentially thousands of miles away from where their songs are now sung are not forgotten, largely because of such songs as Bold Robert Emmet, Anne Devlin, Boulavogue, (which commemorates Father John Murphy) and Henry Joy McCracken.
Singing rebel songs can be an act of gratitude to the very real people that gave their lives in the struggle for Irish and Scottish freedom, and also a ceremony of remembrance. From an interview via Wild Geese Today, Derek Warfield says, “We didn’t have the ability in Ireland because of the colonial rule to remember our heroes in monuments of stone. We weren’t allowed to put them up. It was 100 years before the men of 1798 were remembered in stone. But they were always remembered in song.”
What rebel songs do not have to be, is anthems dedicated to perpetuating hatred. Perhaps it’s a mark of my often buried idealism, but I believe that it’s possible to honor the heroes and remember the dead, without advocating or glorifying further killing. In fact, understanding the sacrifices of those whom have gone before us can, and should, motivate us to do everything in our power to avoid future violence, and to appreciate what peace and freedoms we have.
*For lyrics of all of the songs mentioned here, and a huge amount of information about rebel songs, please see the Triskelle website. This is absolutely the best resource on the internet (in my opinion) for learning about Irish songs and the historical events that inspired them.
