Irish Rebel Music

Irish rebel music is a sub genre of Irish folk music, with much the same instrumentation, but with lyrics about the fight for Irish freedom, people who were involved in liberation movements, Celtic unity, and attacks on the 'British invaders'. Over the years, a number of bands have performed "Crossover" music, that is, Irish rebel lyrics and instrumentation mixed with other, more pop styles like hip hop. Bands like Seanchai, and Unity Squad perform hip-hop-influenced music.

Irish rebel music has occasionally gained international attention. The Wolfe Tones' version of A Nation Once Again was voted the number one song in the world by BBC World Service listeners in 2002.[1] Many of the more popular groups recently such as Eire Og (band), Athenry (band), Shebeen (band), etc. are from Glasgow. The Bog Savages of San Francisco are fronted by an escapee from Belfast's Long Kesh prison who made his break in the September 1983 "Great Escape" by the I.R.A.

The parody band Ding Dong Denny O'Reilly and the Hairy Bowsies satirize this musical genre with songs such as The Craic We Had the Day We Died For Ireland.

Music of this genre has often courted controversy with some of this music effectively banned from the airwaves in the Republic of Ireland in the 1980's. More recently, Derek Warfield's music was banned from Aer Lingus flights, after the Ulster Unionist politician Roy Beggs Jnr. compared their songs to the speeches of Osama bin Laden [2].

Irish rebel bands

Irish rebel songs