Unveiling the Great Irish Songbook

Expo 2020. A major global showcase. A blank canvas. A serious challenge, made all the more complicated by the global pandemic. It was against this backdrop that the idea for an exhibition based around the Great Irish Songbook started to take shape. 

For the Irish team, the first step in preparing for Expo was to decide what could be be said and how. But this much was clear at the outset: to make it stand out, the Irish presence would have to be unique, powerful and persuasive.

As a nation, we need to think on our feet. There will always be countries with bigger budgets. With deeper pockets. With more grandiose schemes. And with the ability to attract attention on the basis of sheer scale. So, the question the Irish team faced, in planning for Expo 2020, was inherently both formidable and energising: what can we do that will stand tall even alongside larger buildings, louder light shows, busier special effects – that is, amid the whole Expo mezze?

As the discussions and the brainstorming got off the ground, one thing was clear: we should play to our strengths. And that meant focussing on the essential core of creativity which has become a hallmark of Ireland’s approach to the arts, to culture, to life and – ultimately, we hope – to asserting our place in the world.   

It was agreed that the objective at EXPO 2020 – taking place in 2021 and 2022 as a result of the pandemic – would be to make a major statement about Irish creativity, imagination, ingenuity and innovation. About what started to take shape in our minds as this 'island of Inspiration’. About the place we call Ireland – and the people who make it what it is. 

This essentially constructive vision of what Ireland represents, and its growing standing in the world, encompasses the contributions we have made collectively – in the arts, science, tech, film, animation, music, literature, business, food, sustainability, and indeed, the vital and increasingly central discipline of problem-solving. 

It has, you might say, taken us a long time to get to where we are. It has involved a gradual, but enormously significant shift in priorities. It has also required, on the part of successive Irish governments from the 1960s onwards, planning and investment in the future. There is, of course, still much more to be done. We are all aware, or should be, that there is no greater folly than complacency and that if you are standing still, in effect, you are falling behind. But what we can say, with confidence, is that Ireland has developed the workforce, the resources, and the skills required to make the most of our already rich and highly developed cultural and creative strengths – and to deliver world-class results.

That would be a message worth conveying to the watching world at Expo – and beyond.

LOVE OF STORYTELLING

Sharpening the details of Ireland’s presence at Expo, it became clear that we wanted visitors to the Irish pavilion to go away thinking: 'There really is something special about this place’. Literature, film, theatre, art, architecture and dance would all be featured over the course of the six months of Expo. But, in a melting pot of diverse countries, cultures and languages, we wanted to find a key to reaching the biggest number of people in the most immediate and emotionally engaging way. And so we turned to music – a global language and milieu in which Ireland has demonstrably excelled – and placed it at the heart of the Irish Expo experience.

We know that Ireland has a thoroughly distinctive, rich, powerful and compelling contemporary musical culture. Drawing on our ancient tradition of exceptional melodies, rhythms, stories and songs, Ireland's contemporary musicians and songwriters have achieved enormous success – creatively, culturally and commercially – right across the world. And they have done this with extraordinary consistency, without in any way sacrificing our collective commitment to the fundamental mission of creating great art – and in particular, where our musicians are concerned, of writing the kind of songs that enter the hearts and minds of listeners so thoroughly and convincingly that they take on a whole other life, becoming in the process songs that 'sing themselves' or that demand to be sung.

Through that almost mystical feat of musical alchemy – which even experts will tell you is impossible to fully rationalise or explain –  they become part of the canon, embedded in that extraordinary, imaginary tome, The Great Irish Song Book.  

It is no secret that, collectively, Irish literary figures have demonstrated a love of – and a mastery of – language, and a joy in storytelling, which is reflected variously in the works of our Nobel Prize for Literature winners, William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, Samuel Beckett and Seamus Heaney, as well as globally acclaimed figures like Oscar Wilde and James Joyce, and pioneering female authors of the stature of Kate O’Brien, Molly Keane and Edna O'Brien. This storytelling magic extends to our modern breakthrough literary figures, from Colm Toibin, Roddy Doyle and Anne Enright to Emma Donoghue,  Lisa McInerney, Anna Burns and Sally Rooney. 

The good news is that this love of language, and the passion for storytelling, also inspires our songwriting and our music, driving an increasingly diverse body of work, from the early well-springs of the great folk ballads, through to the modern era; from Thomas Moore, whose work marked the transition in popular culture from the Irish language to English, on to the modern breed of global stars, including Van Morrison, Thin Lizzy, Rory Gallagher, U2, The Pogues, Sinead O’Connor, The Cranberries and Hozier; and from the latest wave of pop-rock stars like The Script, Kodaline and Dermot Kennedy to our rising hip hop artists and rappers led by Zambian-Irish female hero-in-the-making, Denise Chaila, and working class Dublin producer and songwriter, David Balfe (aka For Those I Love), whose albums have won the Choice Music Prize in 2021 and 2022 respectively.  

They all have their stories to tell.

IRELAND: LAND OF SONG

So let us briefly step into that world and listen. There is a unique history of musical expression in Ireland. Drawing on deep Irish folk roots, and on parlour performances alike, our traditional music is by turn enchantingly melodic and powerfully rhythmic. 

The Irish tradition has, of course, drawn influences from sacred and religious music, as well as from the popular music of Britain, Europe, North Africa and latterly the USA and Canada. Increasingly, in the cross-currents of the modern era, blues, soul, country music, rock ’n’ roll, electronic music, pop, hip hop and world music have been successfully adopted – and adapted – by Irish artists. 

As a result of these diverse and often wildly inspired musical adventures, Ireland is now widely recognised as one of the ultimate talent sources in modern popular music, as well as one of the great places for international artists to perform. Irish people are fascinated by the ritual of live music. They also love a good sing-song. 

This is of the essence. At the heart of the growing appeal of Irish music across the world are the songs, which at their best, bring the musical and literary traditions – the finely-honed words and the vaulting music – together in a way that is uniquely resonant and powerful. 

Thus, Ireland’s songwriters and composers have – individually and collectively – created an extraordinary body of sometimes beautiful, often brilliant and endlessly infectious songs, many of which have gone on to become huge hits across the world, claiming their place as standards in the contemporary global song canon.

The purpose of Ireland’s presence at Expo crystallised around this thought: what better way to capture Ireland’s appeal as a place of unique creativity and empathy, than through songs that people all over the world know and love. What better way to capture the essence of inspiration than to bring them on a journey that would explore the wonderfully diverse range and depth of Ireland’s songs and music? 

And so the decision was taken to make Irish songs a core part of the Irish mission at Expo, with a fresh take on the idea of the Great Irish Songbook.

IMAGINATIVE ACHIEVEMENTS

How to select the songs that might feature? Expo itself is a melting pot, with all of 192 countries participating, and people from every corner of the planet attending. In a setting like that, capturing people’s interest and attention is a challenge even for the biggest nations. 

Decisions were taken, in tandem with Gary Sheehan of the National Concert Hall, first to feature just one song from any artist or songwriter; and secondly, that – to work the magic at Expo – the emphasis would have to be on songs and artists already known to the greatest possible number of people. The chosen songs were to be featured in the repertoires and ‘playlists’ of the Irish musicians and events during Expo.

Thus, we are highlighting here the ‘hits’, in one sense or another, that will resonate most immediately and most powerfully with the maximum number of people, and around which a story can, in the great Irish tradition, be told. 

We needed songs which would open the big door, allowing us access to the heart and soul of 'Ireland: Island of Inspiration'. But which would also, ideally, ring bells and prompt sighs of recognition from the vastly varied citizens of 192 countries, and more.

There is a sense in which the story of modern music begins in those heady decades following the American War of Independence and the French Revolution. And so we looked to 'The Minstrel Boy’ and ‘The Last Rose of Summer’ by Thomas Moore as a starting point, working through some 19th Century gems to ‘Red Sails in The Sunset’ (Jimmy Kennedy), ‘Gloria’ (Van Morrison), ‘Fairytale of New York’ (The Pogues), ‘Orinoco Flow’ (Enya), ‘One’ (U2), ‘Dreams’ (Dolores O’Riordan/ Noel Hogan), ‘Chasing Cars’ (Snow Patrol), ‘You Raise Me Up’ (Brendan Graham) and ’Take Me To Church’ (Hozier) – high points, you might say, in terms of far-reaching global awareness.

Some of the great Irish songs we focussed on have been hits over and over again. Many have broken records in terms of sales, radio plays and, latterly, views and streams. From what we think of as folk songs like 'She Moved Through The Fair’ and ‘My Lagan Love’ to modern popular classics like ‘Gloria’, ‘One', ‘You Raise Me Up’ and 'Take Me To Church’, they have entranced singers and performers as well as audiences, being recorded dozens, or sometimes even hundreds, of times. 

It was with these metrics of multitude, and mutuality, in mind that ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’ was selected, ahead of ‘Rat Trap’ or ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’, as the Bob Geldof song that would be highlighted – not only because it became the biggest selling single in the UK ever when it was originally released in 1984, nor just because it has been a hit on multiple occasions since, but because it also highlights the extraordinary imaginative achievements of Bob Geldof in his humanitarian campaigns – which themselves became of enormous, globe-spanning, importance. 

As Bono of U2 has also demonstrated time and again, the Irish ethos is that these things are all connected. Or if they are not, they should be...

CIRCLE OF INSPIRATION

We wanted, also, to highlight the fact that, as our songs have travelled, so have Irish people – and the music has travelled with them. As the Irish diaspora grew in both numbers and leadership ambitions, Irish music in turn influenced the musical language of a multitude of far-flung places, from Australia to Anchorage, in Alaska, and just about everywhere in between.

As a result, Ireland’s true influence on contemporary music, across the world, is even more far-reaching and powerful than many of us may have realised. Irish roots are evident in the work of numerous leading lights of successive contemporary popular musical movements, with The Beatles, Dusty Springfield (real name Mary O’Brien), David Bowie, Elvis Costello, Johnny Rotten, Kate Bush, Boy George of Culture Club, The Smiths, and Oasis, across to US superstars like Bruce Springsteen, Mariah Carey, The Dropkick Murphys and Billy Eilish, all openly proclaiming how proud they are of their diverse Irish backgrounds. 

At Expo, under the guiding hand of Gary Sheehan, on a daily basis in the Pavilion, our musicians dipped in an out of the Irish songbook. And they chose from the same palette, in the superb Expo World Choir concert, conducted by David Brophy, at which singers from 140 countries sang a range of Irish classics.

 These sparks of musical genius – and what they point to – were also celebrated in the brilliant series of performances of composer Bill Whelan’s Riverdance; in the St. Patrick’s Day concert featuring a brand new iteration of the genius of the renowned Clare fiddler, Martin Hayes; and in a specially curated album, Irish Songbook Vol 1, in which some of Ireland’s brightest young artistic guns take on classic Irish songs.

That wider history of Irish musical genius is also at the heart of this online exhibition, which aims to add further breadth to the remarkable stories behind these songs. To illuminate how they were written and who has sung them. And maybe even to offer some inkling of why they won hearts and minds the world over. The aim, here, is to add flesh and muscle to our understanding of the great saga of Irish music – and the story of Irish global musical influence. 

It will, hopefully, complete the circle of inspiration. 

The purpose of Ireland’s very successful mission at Expo 2020 was to communicate what people will hopefully find an inspiring message: that Ireland is an open, friendly, modern and inclusive place; and that it's people, landing here from all over the world at different times in our fascinatingly tangled history, are innovative, creative, imaginative, worth getting to know – and eager to collaborate and achieve great things.

Our artists, songwriters and musicians speak volumes – and their collective genius amounts to an invitation. Come to Ireland – and be inspired.

• Niall Stokes is the founding editor of Hot Press magazine, which – since its inception in 1977 – has been hugely influential in the emergence of Ireland as a global leader in contemporary music. A musician and songwriter, Niall is also the author of U2: Songs+ Experience (The Stories Behind the Songs of U2); Philip Lynott: Still In Love With You; and Covered In Glory: The Hot Press Covers Book; and he is the publisher of the No.1 best-selling My Boy by Philomena Lynott with Jackie Hayden and Why Not We? The Story of The Cranberries and the Band’s Iconic Front Woman Dolores O’Riordan, curated by Stuart Clark. He was the recipient of a Meteor Award for his contribution to Irish music and a Lifetime Achievement Award from Magazines Ireland.