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Prehistoric Music of Ireland

O'Dwyer, Simon

Irish culture has a strong musical tradition that goes back centuries, or perhaps even further than that! Simon O'Dwyer's research explores the music, and the instruments on which it was played, of prehistoric and early medieval Ireland based on archaeological finds, experimental work using reconstructions of instruments, medieval imagery and legends. This book presents a study of known examples of musical instruments from the Stone Age to AD 700 and a recreation of the sounds and music that would have been produced by whistles, flutes, horns, drums, lyres and so on. Arguing that the prehistoric inhabitants of Ireland would have had the capacity to produce `rich vibrant and energetic music', O'Dwyer explores when, how and why instruments evolved, placing this within the context of changes in subsistence (especially the shift to agriculture), crafts and industries (particularly metalworking), and spiritualism and religious ritual. A chapter devoted to examining and reconstructing the Wicklow pipes illustrates that sophisticated music may have been played in Ireland as long as 2,000 years ago. 160p, 84 b/w figs and pls, 23 col pls (Revealing History, Tempus 2004)

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