ARE there possibilities for pop music in the Irish language? That question was posed yesterday by Joe Steve O Neachtain, poet and writer, at the Merriman Summer School in Co Clare.
Mr O'Neachtain said there was a difference between "ceoltoiri", true musicians, and "ceolain", "a traditional word of contempt for those miserable boastful people who everybody knew could hardly pull the chain when they went to the lavatory".
Mr O Neachtain said it seemed to him most pop musicians were of the "ceolain" variety who made more noise than music but were more famous than Christ.
"They strut across our TV screens, their guitars jutting in front of them, looking for all the world like a ball about to mount a cow in heat. The presentation is superb, sound, lighting, dress or undress. All that is lacking is music."
For all that, he went on, young people seemed to love it, and who was he to criticise anything that gave them such pleasure? He said his own children loved pop concerts, "and good luck to them" but still he thought they were hypnotised rather than entranced by it.
The "combination of rhythm, lighting, sound effects and gymnastics produces mental confusion rather than satisfaction. In the past, people experienced the exhilaration of dancing in badly lit halls from a solo musician. The odd shy person needed a few pints to pluck up the courage to dance, but this was the exception.
"Now, probably, more and more, possibly a majority, need the kickstart of alcohol or drugs to enjoy a disco or pop concert." Could it be that the reason was there was something missing in the core of the music?
Mr O Neachtain said the Gaeltacht had not escaped either, and that more and more, the music of the "ceolain" was replacing the music of the "ceoltoir".
It was very important, he added, that Raidio na Gaeltachta retained the policy of not broadcasting songs in English, so that people who cared about it could still hear authentic music.
Mr O Neachtain said he sensed Raidio na Gaeltachta was tending to broadcast more to a "gaelgeoir" rather than a Gaeltacht audience, and said it was vital that the station did not forget its most important audience. Without the station, new, songs in Irish would not have an outlet.
He said he was pessimistic about the possibility of pop music in Irish being able to compete with pop music in English because the language of pop music was in English in moist countries.
However, a lot of interesting songs of social protest had been written in the country and western style in Connemara. Sean O Muimhneachain's song, An Treoilin, was an example of how pop music could be written in Irish.