Some call it an asset, others an affliction, but the Irish have for time immemorial used music and song to express every possible emotion known to man, and indeed at times, some known only to themselves.

This propensity for music may have originated with the arrival of the Celts to Ireland. Polybius, who lived between about 202 and 120 BC, gives an account of how the Celts fought at the battle of Telamon in 225 BC.

'The Celts had drawn up the Gaesatae from the Alps to face their enemies. The Gae'satae....stood in front of the whole [Roman] army naked, with nothing but their arms; for they thought...they would be more efficient, since some of the ground was overgrown with thorns which would catch on their clothes and impede the use of their weapons. The fine order and the noise of the Celtic host terrified the Romans; for there were countless trumpeters and horn blowers and since the whole army was shouting its war cries at the same time there was such a confused sound that the noise seemed to come not only from the trumpeters and the soldiers but also from the countryside which was joining in the echo.' (The Encyclopaedia of the Celts, Compiled & edited by: Knud Mariboe 1994.)

The battle of Telamon then was obviously quite the 'gig' for the Celts and this 2000 year old scene would, in some ways, be repeated in dance halls, bars, arenas and living rooms in the latter part of the 20th Century as Irish musicians plied their trade around the world.

More recently, from the days of the blind Harper Turlough O'Carolan in the late 1600's and' the Dublin street balladeer Zozimus in the late 1700's, to the era of the Showbands and to world famous performers such as The Clancy. Brothers and Tommy Makem, Van Morrison, The Irish Tendrs and U2, the music of the Irish has moved and inspired wherever it has been heard.

The problem of course with putting together any list of Irish music and its performers is always where to start and where to finish. This A to Z therefore should be regarded as merely a tiny sample of the Irish contribution to the world of music. The vast majority of performers, writers and behind the scenes people we may never hear of in terms of publicity and record sales, but they labor to preserve a unique legacy gloriously rich in its history and continuing today to place Ireland at the forefront of world music.

Tony Quinn