Listen—Christy Moore's Old and New, Glocal Ireland

Abstract

This article examines the role of popular music in the construction of communal belonging and cultural memory in contemporary Ireland, focusing on a single case, namely that of the former lead singer of Planxty, Christy Moore—ever a politically active songwriter and performer, who was named as "Ireland's greatest living musician" in RTÉ's People of the Year Awards in 2007.[1] Moore's solo album, Listen (2009), by its very title invites his audience to listen to a summation of his influences, his past and his diagnosis of the present. The album refers to history—personal, communal and national—in three different areas: Musical history (that of Ireland at large—"Rory's Gone"), as well as Christy Moore's personal role in it ("Barrowland"); Irish immigration and diaspora history ("Duffy's Cut"); and world political history at large ("The Disappeared/Los Desaparacidos"), and yet it also emphasises the present cultural state and critiques it. The article examines this album as a glocal Irish artefact and cultural text. [1] Awarded for "decades of exceptional contribution to Irish music," http://www.rehab.ie/press/article.aspx?id=304.