The last line in this wonderful Irish song is “The Hunger Strikes have started”. It’s not often you get to hear references to one of the most tumultuous times in Irish history mentioned in a modern folk song. Bubblegum is a nostalgically emotive ballad that tells of one girl’s experiences of 1981. It was written […]
This wonderful folk classic is about the highwayman, Willie Brennan, said to be from Kilworth just outside Fermoy in County Cork. Brennan robbed the rich and sometimes gave to the poor at the end of the 18th and start of the 19th centuries. There are numerous theories about Willie Brennan and his exploits, but it […]
Luke Kelly was a member of the globally renowned Irish folk band, The Dubliners. His strong vocals and intense passion for, and belief in, the songs he sang made him one of the foremost folk singers of his or any time. In this offering, he regales us with a ballad about a Scottish lifeboat named […]
This magical Irish folk song is of unknown origin, but with its earliest incarnations to be found in Tír Chonaill. It has a melody said by some to have Oriental influences, but this may be coincidental. It tells of a young man who speaks of his fiance with awe as she travels through places in […]
Carrickfergus (Gaelic for The Rock of Fergus) is a coastal town in the Occupied Six Counties of Ireland. The origins of this particular song are subject to much speculation, but the melody is believed to be from a Gaelic song titled, “Do Bhí Bean Uasal” (There was a Noble Woman) which has been attributed to the […]
Altan are primarily a Tír Chonaill (Donegal) band with one of the founders, Frankie Kennedy, hailing from Béal Feirste (Belfast). They are a traditional music group but with great versatility. Although first started in 1987, Altan are still going strong. Their latest album, The Gap of Dreams was released in 2018. Rebel Voice is a […]
This is a new Dublin band with great promise. This fantastic hit of theirs has a Billy Bragg vibe to it which, in Rebel Voice‘s opinion, is no bad thing. It’s great to hear confident Irish bands emerge with no pretensions to be anything other than Irish. It’s enough. Éirinn abú! If you enjoyed this, […]
“As back through the glen I rode again And my heart with me fell sore For I parted then with valiant men Whom I never shall see ‘more But to and fro in my dreams I go And I kneel and pray for you For slavery fled a glorious dead When you fell in the […]
Here is an Irish ballad to get your spirits soaring. It speaks of the famous horse races at Galway that begin on the last Monday of July each year. It’s there that fortunes are lost and few if any ever made. There are fine ladies galore and drinkers and thinkers and stinkers and creeps. There […]
The famed Molly Maguires were a 19th century secret society active in Ireland, Liverpool and parts of the Eastern USA. They were organised among the Irish emigres who worked in manual jobs and were perhaps best known as the rebellious coal miners of Pennsylvania. In 1877-88, violent resistance broke out in Pennsylvania between the Molly […]
Lovers of Irish folk music, particularly rebel songs, will be familiar with tunes such as The Men Behind The Wire and The Boys Of The Old Brigade. But how many will know who wrote them? It’s a sad fact that too often those who take the time to pen such great ballads are often overlooked. […]
John Spillane is a renowned singer-songwriter from the beautiful city of Cork in Ireland. He is a popular constant on both TV and radio on the Emerald Isle. Here is one of his better known ballads. The lyrics in this track are poetry and when set to the haunting melody serve to take the listener […]
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