Students: Why is there such fascination with Irish folk music?
MARTY: It is just that it has a lot of life in it and no matter what mood you're in, if you're playing Irish music a lot of the time that's making you feel good.
I mean, it's full of life, full of time, it's really fast and it always brings a smile to my face. Students: We had an interview a few minutes ago with 2 girls from France. And they told us that they think Irish folk has a lot of history in it and……
MARTY: Oh yes, a huge history!
Students: ….and that the dancers' pressing their arms tight to their body is a symbol for the repression by the English.
MARTY: Well, Irish music and Irish dance, even though they're closely related, are very different! You know, if you're a dancer then you dance and if you play music then you play music. Irish music itself is not necessarily connected with dancing, but you have it in this context now. Maybe 3 or 4 hundred years ago, people met in peoples' houses and there they drank and where they socialised, where they basically talked and just passed their time and played music; people maybe danced to the music that was being played anyway.
But Irish dancing now has become very formal through the years….
Students: We're not quite sure, but the two girls told us that this "hands or arms pressing tight to their body" is a symbol for the repression by the English?
MARTY: OH! I'm not quite sure! It's a distinct possibility but …..yeah, it could be that, just actually "Dancing in Chains" but the whole issue of Irish and English people is very vast and developed through hundreds of years and to tell that would be too much to put on a normal tape.
Irish music has always been an escape for Irish people. Something that we had to ourselves as well. Something the English people could not copy. And no matter how much they put us down…. They took our language and freedom, they tried to take our culture and our religion. But we always had our music and we tried to push our religion, our music all together. As a culture we probably have music, religion and history - three things that are very close to us.
Students: So you mean that Irish folk music is more than traditional entertainment?
MARTY: Yes. It is something that makes us distinctly US!!! In Scotland you have similar music. In France you have similar music. But it's not quite the same as Irish music.
Students: So, it's not entertainment like folk music in Germany or in Austria. It's more like a lifestyle ….
MARTY: Oh, yes, a LIFESTYLE.
Students: …and a religion to the people?
MARTY: Oh yes. A Lifestyle. And with times becoming more European and more cosmopolitan and more modern we're losing the religion very quickly, but there is always something left that makes us Irish. If you play Irish music you have great pride.
Students: So what do you think about people who like Irish folk music, but who are not especially Irish, like us for example. We're from Germany, but we are also interested. Would you do everything to popularise it, to spread it?
MARTY: That is what we are thought to do! Generally we try to be as welcome as possible to anyone who wants to play Irish music. It is not just music for few people, but music for everyone. We play it for the enjoyment of everyone, but more for ourselves. It's always for ourselves. But if people want to listen, then they're really welcome.
Students: So you're not afraid that…..
MARTY: We're not fascists (smiles very brightly)
Students(laughing): No, that's not what we meant. Aren't you afraid that too many people will listen to or like Irish folk music and that the distinction between the Irish and the Others may disappear?
MARTY: There are people who think so. But If you take this example: There are people who play a jazz lifestyle of Irish music, which is, well, fine. And other people play a Spanish lifestyle version, but over a thousand years, it is not changed very much. You know, it's got a bit faster, the standard has improved, but over all it has stayed Irish.
And some people do fear that it will lose its "Irishness" but to the majority it will be Irish music and we are not really afraid of losing that Irishness.
I don't predict that it will become too popular - that it will really lose its Irishness. At the moment it is popular because of "RIVERDANCE" and all the shows that go abroad, but perhaps you'll find that in 5 years "RIVERDANCE" will be finished, but Irish music will keep on. It is part of our culture, it really is!
There are a lot more songs written in the Irish language than in the English language and so I think that it will still be there, though people might lose their current interest in Irish music.