Where does Ireland rank on the World Music stage...

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

Glassheart

You could add My Bloody Valentine to that.

Just looking at the people you have listed there has made me realise how much we've contributed for such a small country.

I would rate us joint fifth with Sweden after UK,USA,Canada and Australia.:pac:

Fanny Cradock

It's a pointless discussion unless you devise some way of measuring 'rank on the world music stage'.

Record sales in relation to population size?

liah

Sinead O'Connor is actually pretty large on the North American scale, no idea about global but I do remember hearing about her a lot while growing up in Canada.. could've just been via my mother, though...

xOxSinéadxOx

sinead o connor is very well known in america. cos my name is sinéad - 'oh like sinead o connor'...

af_thefragile

If you're looking at the current bands, i'ld have to say pretty low down the line...

Nolanger

What about classical music?
We're nothing special in this area.

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

Fanny Cradock

Lol - no facts then.

I would say that we are bit players then. Sure we have a few big names, and we probably punch above our weight, but I don't think that we really feature on the world stage.

Mars Bar

The Saw Doctors are bigger in the States than Westlife or Boyzone could ever dream of being...
2 - 3 US tours a year, 2 or 3 UK tours and also numerous gigs here.

The Pontiac

Scien wrote: »

In terms of Influence, popularity & Brilliance?
I’m trying to think where exactly we fit in after the global leaders in music; Britain & the US.

There’s no doubt that the Irish have a rich, plentiful & diverse history in Music but does it reach the global audience in an influential and noticeable manner?

Looking back through the decades its clear that there were a select few that made it to the dizzy heights of stardom and influenced many; Thin Lizzy and Rory Gallagher for starters.
We have the 5 big guns in Irish music (in terms of record sales): U2, Enya, Van Morrison, The Cranberries & The Corrs who all put us on the map in their own way.

Then there’s what i think you’d call ‘fringe artists’ (in this context) like Ash, The Frames, Damian Rice, Snow Patrol & Bell X1 who all (except Ash) have been helped along largely by US mainstream TV & Flim. (The OC, Grays Anatomy, Scrubs & Once etc.)
And finally we have our hugely respected (in Ireland anyway) folk artists like The Dubliners, The Chieftans, The Pogues, Sinead O’Connor & Clannad etc. of which i’m unsure of their global position/status.

So looking over some of our Talent, can we really call ourselves serious players in the World Music Industry and if so, on what scale can we contend?

You'd have to add Daniel O'Donnell to that list with 10 million albums sold. Westlife also (but 40 million sold albums worldwide).

We still hold the record for The Eurovision Song Contest, it was actually taken very serious one time.

Rigsby

zudo wrote: »

We still hold the record for The Eurovision Song Contest

Says a lot for us alright. :rolleyes:

Considering that there's only four million of us on this island, I think we rank fairly high on the world stage. We have a good few world famous (and deservedly so ) artists. Our Irish traditional music is well known and liked world wide. One thing to take into consideration when assessing our ranking is the fact that music was generally never taught in schools up to fairly recently ( I'm not even sure if it figures that much these days either ), where as in the USA, and other European countries it is taught from almost toddler age. With that in mind, I dont think we are doing too badly at all.

ADTR

af_thefragile wrote: »

If you're looking at the current bands, i'ld have to say pretty low down the line...

My thoughts exactly.

Mr. Presentable

So, OP. Only pop and rock count as music? Real afficionados would say they are not even music.

The only music we produce which is unique is "Country and Cavan"

So generally, we are minnows.

Mr Fonnen

we rank somewhere above austria but below iceland go figure

Dub6Kevin

You'd have to give the Chieftains a bit more credit. If you wanted to see about inluence you should flick through Paddy Maloney's address book.

bullpost

I'd say our traditional music is our most unique contribution to world music.
Its influenced American music hugely but its also recognised world wide thanks to the likes of the Chieftains and the Dubliners.
Acts like U2 borrow too much from Anglo/American influences.

jimi_t

mars bar wrote: »

The Saw Doctors are bigger in the States than Westlife or Boyzone could ever dream of being...
2 - 3 US tours a year, 2 or 3 UK tours and also numerous gigs here.

...and yet they end up playing barely attended gigs in UCD/UCG/LIT and UCC (which in fairness was mobbed) 2-3 times a year. Hell, I met someone at the picnic last year who had been at a wedding just before where they were playing.

Mars Bar

Barely attended? NUIG and GMIT rag week gigs sell out every year...The Mary I one in Dolans and the general public one in Limerick before that were sold out. They have to market to the younger crowd, that's why they do those gigs! Also, they get asked to play those gigs, they don't go looking for them. They aren't big enough to play arena's and then you are only left with the TF in Castlebar, The Air and Springbreak in Belfast and the Olympia in Dublin after that. Irish venues leave a lot to be desired.

Well whoever's wedding that was was lucky, I'd love to have them play my wedding!

Rigsby

Ah c'mon lads !! You dont seriously think that the Saw Doctors are a good representation of our contribution to the musical global stage ??? :rolleyes:

Mars Bar

Eh, yes I do. Not globally(well, America does think it is the globe), but across the pond. They are the only Irish band to have a continuously growing fan base in the States, the fact that they do 2 tours at the least every year, for the past 20 years surely says something. They have spent a total of 3 years on American soil. U2 and The Script would be the only bigger Irish bands in the States.

Certainly a better representation than Boyzone and Westlife. Other than that, we fall flat on our face at the first hurdle.

Rigsby

mars bar wrote: »

Eh, yes I do. Not globally(well, America does think it is the globe), but across the pond. They are the only Irish band to have a continuously growing fan base in the States, the fact that they do 2 tours at the least every year, for the past 20 years surely says something. They have spent a total of 3 years on American soil. U2 and The Script would be the only bigger Irish bands in the States.

Certainly a better representation than Boyzone and Westlife. Other than that, we fall flat on our face at the first hurdle.

Check the title of this thread again. It says "world music stage".

Mars Bar

Well then this thread wasn't worth starting. I'd say it'd rank miserably. No point in reminding us!

Liam Byrne

af_thefragile wrote: »

If you're looking at the current bands, i'ld have to say pretty low down the line...

If you look at the ones that are promoted, that might be true. Most of them aren't even bands (since bands play instruments).

But there are HUNDREDS of top-class new acts out there, and thankfully sites like MySpace are getting them noticed and bypassing the brain-dead requirement to be noticed / manufactured by Louis Walsh.... :rolleyes:

Bren Jacob

Lots of different ways you could look at this question I suppose.
For me I would be thinking along the lines of contribution/enfluencing of the development of rock n' roll/popular music.
In that department I dont think Ireland has really contributed anything different or new since MBV.
Some would argue that U2's sound has been influential in the development of rock n' roll/popular music or whatever you want to call it but Im not one of them.