| Popis: |
Youth culture as an object of study has a long history, yet the social significance of young people’s music-centred activities is largely neglected in academic research on music in Ireland. This chapter seeks to open up discussion on Irish youth participation in popular and traditional music contexts, using a secondary research approach to offer a series of snapshots on the place of music within Irish youth experiences from socio-historical, socio-cultural and socio-political perspectives. Following a brief overview of the sociological study of youth cultures and Irish youth cultures, I focus on key moments within Irish cultural history in extrapolating the significance of music in young people’s lives and in their development of social and cultural identities. First, the chapter focuses on Ireland in the 1950s and 1960s, examining the ways in which young people’s music-and dance-oriented activities in the so-called ‘Ballrooms of Romance’ were important in forging a break with the socially conservative climate of preceding decades. Second, this research explores the meanings of punk music in the context of ‘The Troubles’ in Northern Ireland. Finally, the discussion considers young people’s position within the field of Irish traditional music in relation to individual and collective identities. |
