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“And the Battle’s Just Begun / There’s many Lost, but Tell me who has won? “. U2S Sunday Bloody Sunday brought the pain of the Northern Ireland conflict into the awareness of the whole world. But as important as this song is, the musical heritage of this conflict continues than it seems.
The Northern Ireland conflict, also known as the “Troubles”, has its origin in deep history, like many conflicts. He started with the occupation of Ireland by Great Britain in the 16th century. In the following centuries Ireland remained a fixed British colony – but also a country of resistance: against colonization, discrimination and violence. In 1922 Irish independence finally occurred. The south became today’s Republic, but the north remained part of the United Kingdom, at least on paper.
Because a Catholic minority lived there, which was systematically discriminated against in the following years and was often considered a second class citizen. The result was limited rights to live, right to vote and access to the labor market. Protests against this social inequality were often brutally depressed.
When hope for a peaceful solution disappeared, the conflict finally escalated in the 1960s. The Irish-Republican Army (IRA) was a central player than the violent arm of the independence movement. Both sides took to violence: bombs, paramilitaries, street fights – over 3,300 people lost their lives in the course of the conflict. The peace agreement finally followed in 1998. But the scars remain, not least in music.
Political songs as a weapon: how Ireland expressed his anger
Irish protest songs are as old as the resistance itself. Irish Rebel Music accompanied farmers as well as civil rights marches. When pubs of the 1970s “Come out, ye black and tan, come out and fight me like a man!” Formed, the song tangled the British paramilitaries of the 1920s, but the anger was timeless.
Historical ballads such as “The Rising of the Moon” or “The Minstrel Boy” were reissued by the Dubliners and Clancy Brothers and their nationalists. Contemporaries like The Barleycorn stormed the Irish charts with “The Men Behind the Wire” in 1971 – a three -minute outcry against mass arrests, which proved that protest culture is a fixed part of Irish identity.
Music from Great Britain: Irish voices in exile
But such songs not only came from Ireland, but also from the actual opponent: Great Britain. Although often from musicians with Irish roots. In 1972 Paul McCartney & Wings reacted almost reflexively to the Derry massacre: “Give Ireland Back to the Irish“Was banished by the BBC, but reached number 1 in Dublin. McCartney himself later confessed:“ I was not really interested in protest songs […] But this time I felt that I had to write something. “
In the same year, John Lennon thwarted the Downing Street even harder words: “All you Anglo Pigs and Scotties Sent to Colonize the North”it says in his track “Sunday Bloody Sunday“. The song was radical, provocative and was sharply criticized in Great Britain. Lennon donated the income of the song to the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland.
Back in Ireland, the most famous musical echo of the conflict in 1983 with U2S “Sunday Bloody Sunday” appeared. From the perspective of an observer, Bono and colleagues describe the scenes of violence and above all bring the emotional level to the fore. “How long? How long must we sing this song?” Asks Bono as the drums thunder like a march.
The power of the subcultures: How punk offered an escape from reality
While folk musicians and protest singers were often clearly positioned, the Northern Irish punk of the 1970s and 80s took a different attitude. Bands like Stiff Little Fingers and The Undertones created music that brought young people from both denominational camps. In an environment characterized by violence, punk was an opportunity to escape the political standstill.
Stiff Little Fingers published an angry declaration of war on the political dead ends in 1979 and the desire for another Northern Ireland. “There’s Nothin ‘for Us in Belfast / The Pound’s Old and That’s a Pity”it says in “Alternative Ulster“.. The Undertones were also an integral part of this time, although they followed a less political approach. In their great hit“ teenage kicks ”it is about love from the perspective of a teenager – not about violence, fear and grief.
Music as therapy and memory
In the 1990s, exhaustion returned. Four years before the peace agreement, Dolores O’riordan wrote the world pain in capital letters: “Zombie, zombie, zombie – eh, eh!” The song complained of an IRA bombing in which two children died and directed against the eternal yesterday: “It is not Ireland, they are a few idiots who live in the past,” said the Cranberrie singer at the time.
Sinéad O’Connor replied in 1994 with “Famine“ – a song that almost sounds like it is rapping: rhythmically speaking, raw, directly. It is a kind of Irish history hour, tells from her perspective. From colonial trauma to the present. She does not save in clear words: “Now look at what we’Re doing to Each other / we’ve Even Made Killers of Ourselves.”
A quarter of a century of peace is not enough to shake the past. This proves Kneecap, a rap trio from Belfast. In a mix of English and Gaelic, they rap over life in northern Ireland. Sometimes you don’t have to go any further as the title, as her song “Get Your Brits Out” shows.