ABSTRACT
In the Republic, which had experienced considerable economic difficulties, the revival of traditional music began to pick up in the 1960s and 1970s. The folk music revival had spread to England and Ireland, leading to the popularity of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem (guitar-playing ballad singers who wore cream-colored knitted sweaters as their trademark performance gear). Some of the first factories opened in Ireland, employing young people and offering economic independence (and the ability to spend money on music). The Chieftains were formed; they performed careful arrangements of Irish instrumental dance tunes using traditional (and occasionally classical) instruments. The composer, musician, and academic Seán Ó Riada wrote influential film scores using Irish materials, and made a powerful impact through radio and journalism. Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (“organization of Irish musicians”), an organization that promotes Irish traditional music and dance, had been formed during the period in which Irish traditional music was at its most moribund, but it gained significant momentum during the 1960s and 1970s, hosting festivals and making recordings (see “The Revival(s),” on p. 228).
