Introduction to<BR>
<B>Traditional Irish Music</B><BR>
In recent years a whole family of stringed instruments have been utilised in traditional music: these include the mandolin, the mandocello, the bouzouki, the cittern, the tenor-banjo and the banjo-mandolin. Generally these are tuned like a fiddle, or tuned to an open D or G chord, and played with a plectrum. They may be used for accompaniment or for melody. While somewhat inflexible in tone, they can generate an exciting rhythmical impact. Having said that, there is suspicion in some quarters that handlers of these instruments are really failed fiddlers; on the other hand, many fiddlers or fluters enjoy a bouzouki accompaniment. The guitar is a different story. Until recently it was completely outside the traditional pale and was associated almost exclusively with so-called 'ballad' groups such as the Clancy Brothers or the Wolfe Tones. However, the folk boom of the sixties and seventies led some musicians to experiment with the possibility of playing reels and jigs on the guitar, with varying degrees of success. The trouble with the guitar is that the finger-picking style laboriously cultivated by some folk players is not really suitable for the very fast incisive rhythms of Irish traditional music; so, a John Renbourne or a Pierre Bensusan may make nice music by interpreting an Irish jig on the guitar, but it will not be traditional music; the rhythms will have to be significantly altered to accommodate the style. A more appropriate strategy is to treat the guitar somewhat like a tenor banjo, and use a plectrum. While this style of playing ignores many of the inherent characteristics of the instrument, it is better suited to the music, and players like Paul Brady (before his incursions into rock music) and Arty McGlynn have succeeded in making the guitar accommodate the full range of traditional expression. Very few other guitarists, however, have this kind of technical brilliance.