Themusic of the Isle of Man reflectsCeltic, Norse and other influences, including those from its neighbours, Scotland, Ireland, England andWales. TheIsle of Man is a small island nation in theIrish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland (and not part of the United Kingdom).
A wide range of music is performed on the island, such as rock, blues, jazz and pop. However, its traditional folk music has undergone a revival since the 1970s, starting with a music festival calledYn Chruinnaght inRamsey.[1] This was part of a general revival of theManx language and culture, after the death of the last native speaker of Manx in 1974.
Musicians of the Manx musical revival includeKing Chiaullee, Skeeal, The Mannin Folk, Mactullagh Vannin, Moot and many others.Culture Vannin provides a central resource for Manx music and dance through the manxmusic.com website, which has links to most performers. Other artists who have produced CDs includeEmma Christian (Ta'n Dooid Cheet –Beneath the Twilight), (voice,harp and recorder), and harpist and producer Charles Guard (Avenging and Bright), formerly an administrator atCulture Vannin. Many of the web entries about Manx music stem from Cliff McGann's 1996 article[1] which is now somewhat out of date.
Little can be determined about the character of music on the Isle of Man prior to the 15th century. There are many carved crosses from this era, but they depict a total of two musicians, onelur player and aharpist. Songs from this era may have hadScandinavian origins; some also bear similarities toIrish andScottish music. The songReeaghyn dy Vannin (the Manxsword dance) is very similar to alullaby from theHebrides and is also said to have been aritual dance during the Scandinavian era.[2]
The earliest written evidence describesfiddle music and a variety of folk dances. There was noharp tradition as was otherwise prevalent inCeltic music.English folk songs were very popular, later includingbroadside ballads,jigs andreels. Also extant were traditionalGaelicpsalm-singing and other church music.
According to Fenella Bazin, "...[E]vidence from written sources shows that the Manx were enthusiastic dancers and musicians, often appearing in the ecclesiastical courts on charges on making music on Saturday nights or after church on Sundays."[2] A traditional Manx melody isMylecharane (The Manx National Air).
In 1891, Manx antiquarian and folkloristArthur William Moore published a collection ofManx Carols. Thecarval is related to the medieval English carol and sung to popular Manx tunes.[2] These carols were formerly sung in the parish churches on Christmas Eve, orOie'l Verrey (a corruption of Oie Feaill Voirrey (the eve of Mary's Feast, i.e. Christmas Eve), as it was called. It was the custom for the people on this night to bring their own candles, so that the church was brilliantly illuminated. Decorations mainly consisted of branches of holly and festoons of ivy. After the prayers were read and a hymn sung, the parson usually went home, leaving the clerk in charge. Then each one who had a carol to sing would do so in turn, so that the proceedings were continued till a very late hour, and sometimes also became of a rather riotous character, as it was a custom for the female part of the congregation to provide themselves with peas, which they flung at their bachelor friends. On the way home a considerable proportion of the congregation would probably visit the nearest inn, where they would partake of the traditional drink on such occasions, viz. hot ale, flavoured with spice, ginger, and pepper.[3] It was traditional to singArrane Oie Vie (Good-night Song) on the way home.
The balladUshtey Millish 'sy Garee relates to the old practice of summoning a jury of 24 men to decide questions connected with water-courses, boundaries, etc. and is dated to sometime prior to 1777. Abardoon was a locally composed song about the loss of a loved one at sea.[4]Yn Chenn Dolphin (The Old Dolphin) is a tale about a shipwreck.[5]
Church music is the most documented Manx music of the 19th century.Lining out was a common technique, as it was throughout Great Britain and Ireland.West gallery musicians performed for special occasions, using locally composed or well-known compositions.Organs were a later importation that became standard in most of the island's churches. The first mention of an organ on the island is associated with St George's church, Douglas in September 1781. The first collection of Manx church songs was printed in 1799, and was followed by many other collections, though it was not until the 1870s and 1880s that Manx music began to be published in any great quantity, as drawing-room ballads, religious songs, and choral arrangements all became popular. The proliferation of this music coincided with a boom in the tourism industry for the island, and Manx music-hall and dance-hall songs and dances saw increased demand.Manx language songs, in particular, benefited from theGaelic revival from the 19th century onwards.[6]
A notable musical episode in the Isle of Man was the imprisonment between 1940 and 1941 of many German musicians of Jewish extraction inHutchinson Internment Camp on the island. These includedHans Gál (who composed there works for performance by the camp orchestra),Egon Wellesz, andMarjan Rawicz.[7]
Though West Gallery music continued into the 1950s, by the 20th century instrumental music accompanied most worship on theIsle of Man. Later in the 20th century, Manx church musical traditions slowly declined. The legacy of immigration, from England and elsewhere, has brought in many new styles of music to the island.
Some of the last native Manx speakers, includingNed Maddrell, were recording singing traditional songs. In 1909, the AustrianethnologistRudolf Trebitsch made several recordings, as did theIrish Folklore Commission in 1948.[8]
Culture Vannin has a dedicated Manx Music Development Team comprising a Manx music specialist, who works with the island'sDepartment of Education, Sport and Culture to encourage the development of Manx music in the school curriculum, and a Manx Music Development Officer, who works to promote Manx music and dance in the wider community. CDs by bands, soloists and Gaelic choirs are produced.
The Manx Music Festival is an annual music festival held at the end of each April inDouglas. It was founded in 1892 by the "Mother of Manx Music"M. L. Wood after music classes were included in the Fine Arts and Industrial Guild, after which the festival gets its colloquial name of "The Guild".[9] Local people and visitors are invited to take part in various singing, instrumental, drama and public speaking classes. At the close of the festival, winners of the individual voice categories compete to win theCleveland Medal, first donated in 1923 by the Cleveland Manx Society. The first performance of theManx National Anthem occurred at The Guild in 1907, accompanied by Harry Wood's Orchestra.
In November 2014Culture Vannin, a government sponsored entity, brought together musicians from Norway and theIsle of Man to produce the Norwegian-Manx Collaboration featuring traditional music and providing an educational tour around the Isle of Man. The collaboration featured Manx musiciansTom Callister,Ruth Keggin and David Kilgallon, as well as Norwegian musicians Erlend Apneseth and Margit Myhr.[10]
