The return to grace of the Irish trad scene

In the shadows, amidst the red brick walls and leatherette stools of Cork's Courthouse Tavern, the sound of banjos, accordions, fiddles, and tin whistles suddenly bursts forth.

“On the pavement, 1,500 delirious fans wait for the Kingfishers to leave the pub for an a cappella session, oblivious to police orders to disperse,” continues The Independent .

“Just another Monday night for the band, a figurehead of the return to grace of Irish traditional music,” says the British website.

“From the hit Stargazing , which brought the young Myles Smith to fame, to Ryan Coogler's eclectic film Sinners, Irish music is everywhere. The phenomenon show Riverdance has even started touring again, thirty years after popularizing Irish dancing worldwide at the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin.”

“But how can we explain such success among young people?” asks the British site.

“The time for revenge has come for live music, and young fans are discovering the extraordinary power of Irish music, by joining in the chorus

Eileen Og in concert

Mary Wallopers or tapping your feet to the rhythm of the collective

100% female Biird.”

The British daily newspaper The Independent

“There’s no denying that the trad scene has gotten younger – the narrative aspect of the songs has a lot to do with it,” says Ross McNerney, who plays banjo in the folk trio Amble.

According to him, it's because people want to hear stories told to them on the guitar. “It's the same with country music in the United States. It's simple, no-nonsense music with lyrics that fans can relate to.”

“The [Kingfishr] are still a little stunned [by such success]. The trio has just announced the biggest dates of its young career (including two concerts at the 3 Arena in Dublin, with a capacity of 13,000 spectators). Not bad for a group

formed just three years ago.”

The British newspaper The Independent on the indie folk trio Kingfishr

Covers of Irish standards are even making their way into cinemas.

“In Ryan Coogler's musical Sinners , a clever blend of horror and fantasy, actor Jack O'Connell delivers a breathtaking revival of the 19th ^- century classic Rocky Road to Dublin.”

“I think a lot of young people have been deprived of communication, of human interaction,” especially during lockdown, suggests accordionist Máirtín O'Connor.

Or “Irish music is social and convivial by nature. It’s interactive, celebratory, empathetic, and therefore very powerful. The exact opposite of technology, which tends to isolate us from one another.”

This unifying character “is also reflected in [Kingfishr's] concerts, where the crowd generally ends up singing the songs at the top of their lungs,” adds The Independent.

“The three boys of Kingfishr have a real talent for storytelling, and their melodies feed the need for belonging of their young community of fans.”

In a BBC article published in March 2024, Ray Morgan, chairman of the Glengormley School of Music and Belfast TradFest, already estimated that more and more young people were interested in traditional Irish music.

“Bands like All Folk'd Up and The Tumbling Paddies are inspiring young people to take up traditional music. But the growing number of young people interested in traditional music in general is also contributing to the success of these groups,” he said at the time.

Meanwhile, the return to basics even extends to learning Gaelic.

Last year, the foreign language learning app Rosetta Stone noted a 200% increase in the number of Gaelic language learners in the UK.—