Finally had the opportunity to listen to some old records I'd picked up from various junk/antique/secondhand shops.
One record was pressed in Ireland in the '50s; it was the soundtrack to a movie released by the Irish equivalent to our National Film Board. The movie was (is?)about the Easter Uprising, the quashed rebellion which was a crucial step towards the civil war(s) fought over Irish independance.
The musical style of the soundtrack is a strange hybrid.
On the one hand, it is yer classic military cadence, in yer full orchestral arrangement ~~ as if to say, take this movie seriously!! Feel the stirring patriotism!! Our composer has a respectably proper conservatory education, and don't you forget it!!
On the other hand, because it's a movie about the birth of modern Ireland, there are points at which the music has a very pronouced and self-conscious lilt. It seems an akward afterthought, as if the composer had a pretty good idea of what was expected of military music, a vague idea of what Irish music ought to sound like, and no clue how to integrate them both.
It's also the poetic connotation of the orchestra that throws me. From what little I've read about the Easter Uprising, I'm inclined to say that "well orchestrated" is not an expression I'd use to describe it; and yet, there it is.
And it's just a wee bit dull...
But I told you all that lot to tell you this:
At the beginning of side two, there is a drumbeat which sounds distinctly like
danh, danh, danh, dum de danh, dum de danh
~~ and in the same instant I:
{1} thought ...Irish Stormtroopers?!? and
{2} realized that my point of reference for military music is the soundtrack of the original Star Wars trilogy.
.
Luke ~ I'm yer Da.
.
I'm sure that must have been done by some Irish political satire group somewhere... but who?
anyone? anyone?
Posted by edgar at August 8, 2003 01:31 PM