03.23
2026Music of Ireland Regional Feature
On Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026, DJ Grim aired a special broadcast showcasing the music of Ireland on V89’s Artist Feature show. For those who missed, here is the transcribed version!
What do we think when we think of Irish music? Singing fiddles? Solemn ballads of longing for the homeland? Politics? We can explore the history of a place through their music. This small selection of tracks offers only a surface level understanding of the history of the island and current cultural and political movements. Here, we see Irish musicians representing themselves, by engaging with the past and looking towards the future. We also see how their influence echoes across continents and oceans.
Traditional Celtic Folk Sounds
Maighread Ni Dhomnaill, Amhran Pheador Breathnach
Maighread Ni Dhomnaill, Spanish Lady
The Chieftans, The Wind that Shakes the Barley/The Reel With the Beryle
Nancy McCallion (The Mollys), On We Go
Celtic folk music runs deep in Irish history. It has always been used as a means of resistance, and has inspired movements in the diaspora, such as the Celtic folk and rock genres in the United States. Maighread Ni Dhomnaill is “widely considered to be one of Ireland’s finest trad singers,” according to Putomayo records, who have included the track Amhran Pheador Breathnach (Pheador Breathnach’s song) on their Women of the World: Celtic collection. Celtic influence is seen in On We Go by Nancy McCallion of the Tucson-based folk quintet, The Mollys. The Wind that Shakes the Barley is a song passed down through oral tradition, originally written by the poet Robert Dwyer Joyce. It tells the story of a young man joining the 1798 rebellion, referencing the barley that would grow from unmarked graves that rebels would be placed into.
The Great Famine/An Gorta Mór and Emigration
The Pogues-Thousands Are Sailing
Sinéad O’Connor-Famine
English band The Pogues gained success through playing in pubs throughout London. They were known for incorporating the rebellious spirit of punk with traditional Irish sounds, bringing the reality of Irish history to the English public. Thousands Are Sailing is a story known to millions: Irish emigration to America. The lyrics reference “famished men”, “coffin ships sailing the Atlantic” and imagery of New York City. Before the famine, Ireland’s population was 8.5 million. By 1901, it had fallen more than half, to 4.4 million. Ireland’s population still has not recovered. Today, 5.28 million people live on the island. Emigration, displacement, and loss have become a deep part of Ireland’s history.
Sinéad O’Connor’s Famine from 1994 was released in the final years of what is known as “The Troubles”. Her songwriting articulates the lasting legacy of the Great Famine to the Irish public, showing that they were still feeling these effects. She illustrates how hunger is the greatest colonial tool for control. It is extremely important that this history is not forgotten.
The millions of descendants of Irish immigrants in America are often too far removed from their history to recognize the sacrifices their ancestors made to come here when they had no other choice. We claim Irish heritage and celebrate the culture yet are complicit to the dangers immigrants currently face in our country. The irony is somewhat lost on Ireland as well, with increasing anti-immigration rhetoric against Arab and South Asian people in a country whose history is plagued by emigration.
The Troubles, Rebel Songs, & Shared Histories
The Irish Brigade, Kinky Boots
The Irish Brigade, Going Home At Last
The Wolfe Tones, Come Out Ye Black and Tans
U2, Bloody Sunday
“The Troubles” was a very tumultuous period of political resistance and violence in the North of Ireland that lasted roughly from the 1960s until 1998, with the passage of the Good Friday Agreement. Civil rights movements in the North of Ireland were met with violence from the British government and heavy police presence. The British government and loyalists sought to maintain the North as a Protestant state, where Catholics were effectively second-class citizens. Catholics had worse housing and job opportunities, and, because of this, little say in government. British police forces were met with resistance and reactionary violence from the IRA, and there was fighting among the two religious groups. U2’s 1982 track Bloody Sunday is indicative of Irish New Wave musicians discussing the current political turmoil. The Bloody Sunday Massacre of 1972, one of the most notorious events of The Troubles, saw the death of 13 civilians in Derry when British military forces opened fire on a crowd of protestors.
Irish rebel songs are often playful and satirical, with clear trad influence. Kinky Boots, Going Home at Last, and Come Out Ye Black and Tans all discuss British military presence, mocking British soldiers and loyalists.
The black and tans were part of the British military used to suppress the Irish Independence movement throughout the 20th century, but their presence is not exclusive to Ireland. They were also sent by the government to Palestine in the 1920s, when it was still British occupied.
Language, Rap as Gaeilge, & Solidarity with Palestine
Kneecap, Amach Anocht
Kneecap, Get your Brits Out
Kneecap, Guilty Conscience
Fay’d, ZEDsBAR, Promised Land
Language is very important. It’s how we pass down our history and preserve identity. It’s how we tell our stories in our own words. Suppressing indigenous language is a powerful and effective colonial strategy seen all over the world. The Irish language was outlawed under British rule for centuries, with the most effective period of erasure during the famine, as the majority of people who died or left were native Irish speakers from the West. Irish was only recognized by the UK government as an official language in the North of Ireland in 2022.
The Irish language revival movement encourages people to use any amount of Irish they have. A phrase that has carried great political significance is, “Is fearr Gaeilge briste, ná Béarla clíste,” which means “broken Irish is better than clever English.”
We cannot talk about the language revival movement or Ireland’s current cultural impact without talking about Kneecap. The West Belfast hip-hop trio consists of three members that are native Irish speakers: Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh (Mo Chara), Naoise Ó Cairealláin (Móglaí Bap), and J Ó Dochartaigh (DJ Próvaí). They were born at the tail end of The Troubles, having grown up in a country with fresh wounds and a city with walls still standing and dividing communities. They serve as important figures in the language revival movement by using Irish lyrics, connecting to a new generation and encouraging them to learn the language of their ancestors. Their 2024 semi-autobiographical film Kneecap was the first ever Irish language film to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. The film tells the story of their formation as a band, and is referred to by the members as “a film about the Irish language.”
Their provocative lyrics, such as the line, “Tiocfaidh ár lá/Get the Brits out lad/A one way ticket, please I’ve lost my bus pass” from the song H.O.O.D, have been spoken around the world, from Coachella to Glastonbury festival.
Tiocfaidh ár lá is a phrase associated with the Irish Republican movement that gained popularity during The Troubles. It means “Our day will come,” in reference to the hope that, one day, the 32 counties of Ireland will be united, with no British rule. This phrase has come to be associated with other occupied states, especially Palestine, due to the long-shared history between Ireland and Palestine, with shared struggle of genocide and cultural erasure. Kneecap have been very outspoken about their support for the Palestinian people, flying the Irish tricolor flag with the Palestinian flag during performances to show solidarity. They have publicly denounced the state of Israel and the genocide that mirrors that of the Great Famine.
Kneecap’s outspoken opposition to the Israeli government has been framed as antisemitism, hate speech, and terrorism, and has even gotten them banned from several countries. Mo Chara was charged under the UK’s Terrorism Act of 2006 for his alleged use of the Hezbollah flag, and appeared in court in London in June 2025, where he requested an Irish translator.
The Spirit of Punk
Fontaines DC, Roman Holiday
Fontaines DC, I Love You
Fontaines DC, Boys in the Better Land
Fontaines DC, Dublin City Sky
Maruja, Saoirse
Maruja, Tri
Maruja, Ceathair
Dublin based band Fontaines DC are one of the most exciting groups in the postrock scene. Their music is patriotic and celebratory, painting a picture of life in Ireland. References to the IRA and the phrase, “Our day will come”, are heard on Roman Holiday from the 2022 album Skinty Fia. The track I Love You from the same album serves as a love letter to Ireland, and a pledge to bring it with you everywhere you go.
Maruja, a post-punk/jazz fusion group from Manchester use the Irish language and folklore in their energetic, largely improvisational sounds. Their 2025 EP Tír na nÓg is named after the “Otherworld” or “Land of Youth” in Irish folklore, a place to remain young and escape time forever. The ethereal atmosphere of such a place is reflected in their immersive, improvisational instrumentation.
Irish music is expansive, with centuries of traditions to draw upon. Irish musicians worldwide use music to understand shared histories and reimagine themselves outside of the context of colonialism. Whether it be through the think pieces of Sinéad O’Connor or the defiance of Kneecap, Irish popular culture is political and highly socially aware, but also celebratory and imaginative.