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In this page we’re going to deal with music related to Ireland.

We have chosen some emblematic bands and singers and they are ordered chronologically.

But first of all, let’s start with a small introduction.

Irish Music is the generic term for music that has been created in various genres on the island of Ireland.

The indigenous music of the island is termed Irish traditional music. It has remained vibrant through the 20th, and into the 21st century, despite globalizing cultural forces. In spite of emigration and a well-developed connection to music influences from Britain and the United States, Irish music has kept many of its traditional aspects and has itself influenced many forms of music, such as country and roots music in the USA, which in turn have had some influence on modern rock music. It has occasionally been fused with rock and roll, punk rock and other genres.

by Adrián Lasa, Gabriel de Cos and Cristian Saiz.

THE DUBLINERS


The Dubliners is a band which plays folk and Celtic music. This band was formed in 1962, from then until they have been performing, but with different artists.
Its original members were Ronnie Drew (vocals, guitars), Luke Kelly (vocals, banjo, guitar), Ciaran Bourke (Irish flute, harmonica, guitar, vocals), Barney McKenna (banjo) and John Sheahan (fiddle). The first three artists mentioned are dead today. Current members are Barney McKenna, John Sheahan, Sean Cannon, Eamonn Campbell and Patsy Watchorn.
Originally called "The Ronnie Drew Group" ("The group of Ronnie Drew"), but later the group changed its name to The Dubliners because Kelly was reading James Joyce's novel with the same name.

Web pages:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dubliners
http://www.thedubliners.org/

VAN MORRISON



Van Morrison is considerated as one of the best musicians of all times. Van Morrison was born in 1945, during his infancy he listened to jazz, country and blues albums of his parents. From them he inherited his passion for music, he learnt to play the guitar and the saxophone, and he was an exceptional blues singer. “Astral Week” is one of his best albums, it has no musical style. He had problems with scenic panic when his audience increased.
After in a trip around U.S.A he released a live album, “It´s too late to stop now”, one of the best live albums of the rock history. He has had got many hits and he has collaborated with great musicians as John Lee Hooker. He has had influence in the music and in many artists including, Jimmy Hendrix, Rod Stewart, Bruce Springsteen and many more.

Web Page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Morrison
http://www.van-morrison.com/

THE CHIEFTAINS



The Chieftains are an Irish traditional music band, founded in 1963. His first year as a band, they released their first album with the same name as the group, The Chieftains. They are still acting.
This group plays Celtic music.
Its initial membership was Paddy Moloney (uilleann pipes), Martin Fay (fiddle and bones, traditional percussion instrument), Seán Potts (whistle) and David Fallon (bodhrán). Now its members are different. Paddy Moloney, Seán Keane, Matt Molloy, Kevin Conneff, Martin Fay and Derek Bell.
The band currently consists of Shane Macwogan, James Fearnley Spider Stacy Jeremy Finer Andrew Ranken Phil Chevron Terry Woods Darryl Hunt. It also had other artists in it, not currently, for example, Cait O'Riordan, Joe Strummer, Jamie Clarke Dave Coulter and James McNally.

Web page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chieftains
http://www.thechieftains.com/default.asp

GARY MOORE



Gary Moore is a guitarist, who played in some groups and he made a solo career. During the 80s he changed hard rock for something calmer and melodic, in this moment he got more fame in the United Kingdom. He made a Celtic song in his album “Wild Frontier”, but he returned to hard rock. After during the 90s he went toward blues, when he collaborated with Albert King, Albert Collins and B.B. King, great figures of the blues. In this phase he didn’t get many hits.
He died 6th of February of this year, 2011 in Malaga, it has been sad news for the music world.

Web page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Moore
http://www.gary-moore.com/

THIN LIZZY


Thin Lizzy is a hard rock band from Dublín. They have had influence in rock, country and folk. They were one of the first bands in using two melodic guitars. In the original band was Lynott voice and bass, guitarist Eric Bell, organist Eric Wrixon and drum player Brian Downey.
The band became successful when they went to London. Their best album is “Jailbreak” with the song also called “Jailbreak” and its emblematic song “The Boys are Back in Town”.
The band changed their members. In 1986 Lynott died, because of alcohol and drugs and he was replaced by Bob Geldof.

Web page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin_Lizzy
http://thinlizzyonline.com/

THE POGUES


The group's original name is Pogue Mahone (Kiss my ass, in Irish)
It is an Irish rock band that emerged in the early 80s. It mixes punk and traditional Irish music.
They began in 1982 until 1996 when the band split up. They re-organized in 2001 to continue with the band and they remain together until now.
The musical band is reputed to be composed of party animals and alcoholics. The group became famous not only for his music but also for the fights and brawls that organized in concert.

Web page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pogues
http://www.pogues.com/

ALTAN



Altan is an Irish traditional folk music group, originally from Gweedore, Ireland. The band started as a duo in 1981, playing in pubs. At the beginning, the founders were Frankie Kennedy (flutist) and Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh (singer and fiddler). Between 1984 and 1985, they performed throughout Ireland, but also in Irish pubs and nightclubs in U.S.A. The first musicians that joined to Altan were: Ciaran Curran (bouzouki performer), Ben Lennon (violinist) and Cathal McConnell (flutist). Finally, with the addition of guitarist Mark Kelly, Altan became a band. Years later, Mark gave the band another music and new arrangements. At the beginning of the decade of 90´s, they joined Dermot Byrne an accordionist. The band had got gold and platinum albums in Ireland, and they did concerts in some country.
Nowadays, the members are: Mairead Ni Mhaonaigh, Dermot Byrne, Ciarán Tourish, Ciarán Curran and Daithí Sproule.

Web page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altan_(band)
http://www.altan.ie/

BOB GELDORF


Bob Geldof was born in 1954, in Dublin. He began in the music world with the band Boomtown Rats, this band have been a pioneering band of the punk movement, it got some success in 1976 with “Rat trap” or “I don´t like Mondays”. With the time Bob began a run in solitary. During the 90s he formed the band The Happy Clubsters, who combine pop-rock with the Irish traditional music. When Bob watched that Etiopia suffer from tragedies, he organized one of the most important concert, Live Aid. It was watched on TV by millions of people, in this concert the main star of the moment participated in the concert. Later, Bob went to Etiopia to check that the money collected had been distributed among the affected people.

Web Page:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=024UcB1m7Do
http://www.bobgeldof.com/

THE UNDERTONES


The Undertones are a Irish band of punk rock formed in 1975. Its members are Paul McLoone, Michael Bradley, Damian O´Neil, Billy Doherty, and John O´Neil. They began playing songs of other band sin schools with the name, The Hot Rods, but they changed their name because another band had the same name.
They published their firsts works in 1977 coinciding with the explosion punk in United Kingdom. Their first single, “Teenage Kicks”, had much success. But the band split up in 1983 because there were tensions in it. Paul joined to the band in 1999 and since then they play sometimes and they continued composing. They also participed in a documentary called The Undertones: Teenage Kicks in 2004.

Web page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Undertones

MY BLOODY VALENTINE



My bloody valentine is an alternative rock band formed in 1983, in Dublin, Ireland. The band was founded by Colm O'Ciosoig and Kevin Shields, who at that time were accompanied by Dave Conway and Tina. At first, the band was influenced by post-punk, dream pop and art rock. Finally, they were established as a legend of Shoegaze.
The band had a short life (1985-1991) but they marked strong tends and a way of making music that is based on distorted guitars and female vocals. The guitarist, Kevin Shields was a figure of the time. In 1986, Debbie Googe joined at the band and in 1987, Dawe Conway left the band and Bilinda Butcher became a guitarist and singer. Each record was better than the last. Loveless was a record. Since the split, the members took different paths. In a recent interview, Kevin Shields confirmed that the group would return to the stage and to make new albums. This was great news for their fans and for music in general.

Web page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Bloody_Valentine_(band)
http://www.mybloodyvalentine.co.uk/

U2



U2 is a rock band from Dublín, Ireland. They started 1976 with Bono, guitar and voice, the Edge guitar, piano and voice, Adam Clapton as bass, and with the drum player Larry Mullen. They started when they were only teenagers without much musical knowledge, but in the 80s they had made four albums and they had got fame due to big trips and concerts, and strange sound of The Edge and voice and lyrics of Bono. They had been in some supportive action too. They had got many hits and they continue making them nowadays.

Web page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U2
http://www.u2.com/

SINEAD O'CONNOR



Sinead O´Conor is an Irish songwriter, known for her quality as an artist, her beauty, her controversy declaration and her extravagance on stage.
She had some family problems. First she was member of a band that she left when her mother died. She was pregnant when she was twenty years old. Her first album “The Lion and The Cobra” didn´t get fame although it had quality,. In this album you have “Troy”, a song that reflected the relationship with her mother. The true fame arrived in 1989 with “Nothing Compares 2U”, although this song is a song that was written by Prince, but she gave her tone. She refused some nomination and a Grammy because she said that the prize was for the sales and not for the quality of the music. In 1990 she was in the concert “The Wall”, one of the bests concerts of the history. After she tried other styles as jazz and traditional Irish music, but she returned to her style. At present she was recording an album with Marco Pirroni.

Web page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sin%C3%A9ad_O'Connor
http://www.sineadoconnor.com/

THE CORRS




The Corrs is a traditional Irish band that combines it with pop and rock. The band is made by four brothers, Sharon, Caroline, Andrea and Jim Corr. This band started in the music world because their parents were musicians and they taught them since that they were young. They got hits very soon and made some concerts. When their mother died, they tried with new sounds, but it didn´t have much result.
After four years without composing, they released “Lanzanborrowed Heaven”, it was a traditional old song sang in Gaelic. After they released a summary album that they recorded with famous artists. They have got some prizes in 2005, but at present they are in a pause.

Web page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Corrs
http://www.thecorrswebsite.com/

THE FRAMES


The Frames is an Irish music band originally from Dublin.
It is a rock band and indie-rock. The group began performing in 1990 and is still playing today.
Currently, the band is composed by Glen Hansard (vocals, guitar), Joe Doyle (bass and vocals), Colm Mac With Iomaire (violin, keyboards and vocals), Rob Bochnik (lead guitarist), Johnny Boyle (drums) and Graham Hopkins who has collaborated with the drums. These components have changed over time. The group began with various artists at present. These former artists are: Noreen O'Donnell, Dave Odlum, Paul Brennan, Dave Hingerty, John Carney and Graham Downey.
The band's ex-bassist, John Carney, is now a film director, best known for writing and directing the film Once, which stars Hansard, who wrote much of the music for the film. Hansard and Marketa Irglova won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Falling Slowly" from "Once".

Web page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Frames
http://www.theframes.ie/

THE CRANBERRIES


The Cranberries are an Irish rock band. This group was formed in 1990 and performed until 2003. In 2009 they returned to start working again until today.
The group consists of four members: Dolores Mary Eileen O'Riordan Burton (vocals, keyboards and guitar), Michael Gerard Hogan (Bass), Noel Anthony Hogan (guitar) and Patrick Fergal Lawler (drums).
The Cranberries rose to international fame in the 1990s with their debut album, Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?, which became a commercial success and sold over five million copies in the United States. The group was one of the most successful rock acts of the '90s and sold over 14.5 million albums in the United States alone. The band has achieved four top 20 albums on the Billboard 200 chart.

Web page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cranberries
http://www.cranberries.com/

BOYZONE


Boyzone formed by: Shane Lynch, Ronan Keating, Stephen Gately, Mikey Graham and Keith Duffy. In 1995, they began to be known in Europe. In 1998, they released their third album called "Where be belong". Between 1998 and 1999, they made numerous tours and concerts with their best songs.
In 2000, the group decided to take a break for some years, for different problems. Some remained in the music world and others in the film world. Later, in 2005, Boyzone returned to the stage in a benefit concert. In 2009, Gately died in the Balearic Islands (Spain).
In 2010, Boyzone released its fourth album called "Brother" which had songs dedicated to Gately. This year 2011, Boyzone has been doing tours in UK and Ireland. In April, the group will release a new album.

Web page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyzone
http://boyzonenetwork.com/

WESTLIFE



Westlife is an Irish pop group formed in 1998. Their music consists of ballads and pop songs from Swedish. But they have also halftime and dance songs. Fourteen of their singles have been number one on the UK. The members of the group are: Mark Feehily, Shane Filan, Kian Egan and Nick Birney. The famous band has found great acceptance in the public thanks to their harmonious voices, its choreography and songs that bring the music world a new style. In 2005, Westlife released a new album called “Face to face”. In this album, they return to their style and it was the best album after the departure of Byran.
In 2005, Westlife won his fourth "Record of the Year". In 2006, they released a new album called “The Love Album”. From 2006 to the present, Westlife has released several albums, and all with the same result.

Web page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westlife
http://www.westlife.com/global/frontpage?cmdr=ip2country.detected