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Given the labyrinthine body of critical work that attends Irish literature, this compact and lucidly written collection of essays, 10 in all, is a welcome enquiry into the place of music within the growing discipline of Contemporary Irish Studies. The immediate strength of this book is that it weaves the discussion through the multi-disciplined view of Cultural History Studies. Essays touch on Music and Media, Gender, Politics, History, Religion and Contemporary European Philosophy to name but a few, and its temporal scope reaches back to the late 1700s. The breadth of Gerry Smyth's interest and reading on the topic is instantly apparent. While it may fall short, probably through necessity, of a detailed discourse on what is a vast area, there is certainly enough here to whet the appetite of not just the student and experienced researcher looking for 'leads', but the lay reader as well.
In the first chapter Smyth confidently sets out his stall appealing to the case for a more committed academic appraisal of how all kinds of music feature within the sphere of Irish studies with special regard to notions of Irish identity. Part of his endeavour here is to redress the balance towards music as a...