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Submission to The Joint Committee on Heritage and
the Irish Language on the Traditional Music of Ireland
1. Purpose
We are basing this submission on the assumption that the
purpose of the exercise is to examine the current state of the music and to find
ways in which it can be assisted. Our purpose in making it is to clarify and
state the nature of Irish Traditional Music, so that its strengths and
weaknesses may be clearly understood, and so that appropriate support measures
may be initiated and inappropriate ones avoided.
This submission will not recommend specific actions, but it
will suggest a framework of values by which possible initiatives may be
evaluated.
In general, we submit that Irish Traditional Music is
already in the hands of those who are best equipped to safeguard it and to
promote its interests. It is emphatically not an un-developed or under-developed
resource, to be exploited for some secondary objective such as
tourism.
There are areas where assistance would be useful. To
identify these the Committee should consult only with the traditional music
community itself and not outside interests. When assessing submissions from
whatever source, the Committee should carefully examine the motivation and
objectives. If these are secondary to the interests of the music itself the
submissions should be rejected. Irish traditional music must not be identified
with the music or entertainment industries, or with the tourist industry, the
education sector or any other interest. It has its own interests and priorities
which are different from, and very often opposed to, the interests of these
sectors.
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