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forthill bhoy · Joined: 16 Mar 2008 Posts: 21

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The Sound of an Underground

A Wee Film about Rebel Music.

On Thursday 31st February, up the stairs in Sandino’s sees the premiere of the locally produced film “The Sound of an Underground”, which looks at the long standing tradition of protest music in the North West of Ireland. The 30 minute documentary features performances by Joe Mulhearn, Eileen Webster, Gary Óg, and Declan McLaughlin, as well as commentary by Derry civil rights veteran and journalist Eamonn McCann.

While it has long been acknowledged that Irish music has been a major influence in contemporary and popular music, “The Sound of an Underground” is a film which looks specifically at the Irish tradition of protest music and its relationship to popular struggle, both in Ireland and abroad. This tradition encompasses everything from songs like ”Arthur Mc Bride”, which is an anti-recruitment song dating back to the Napoleonic wars, to “Give Ireland back to the Irish” by Paul McCarthy and “Bloody Sunday” by John Lennon, as well as the plethora of folk genres in the US, Britain, and the rest of the world.

The film also explores the question of censorship, the political conflict and their role in the attempts at marginalization of this musical genre in mainstream media. However protest music’s popular appeal has long meant that it could not be erased totally, for example in the recent BBC World service’s recent internet poll, in which they asked listeners to nominate and vote for the number one song of all time, the Wolfe Tone’s “A Nation Once Again” came first.

The documentary argues that it the rebelliousness of Irish protest music that has given modern music much of its attitude and spirit. With some commentators going as far to say that it is the spirit of Irish rebel music that gave rock and roll its anti- authoritarianism. For example, the Gallagher brothers, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Morrissey, Johnny Rotten, Bob Dylan and many other great artists have spoken openly about how listening to Irish rebel music as a child influenced them as songwriters and performers.

Why do you never hear this music on the radio? Is there something about this type of music that unsettles the powers that be?Is it because, unlike rap, dance, techno and other genres, whose form lends itself to being appropriated easily by commercial interests, protest song cannot be resold for a cheap buck