Description
It is well accepted that popular culture is deeply enmeshed in international politics. Applying these perspectives, we can see that intra-communal, (de-)colonial, and extremist violence in (Northern) Ireland is something that is neither purely political, nor entirely confined to the past but was and is shaped in complex and multi-directional ways by the popular culture it is situated in. In Republican communities music was and remains a popular medium through which stories are communicated and identities shaped and performed. This paper takes contemporary and historical iterations of the popular “Rebel Song” genre to interrogate the ways in which multiple, overlapping, and often contradictory identities are generated. These songs also produce shared and contested histories of Ireland and are mobilised through appeals to continuity, symbolism, technologies of war, and humour. Bringing a broad range of music to bear, this paper explores the ways in which lyrics, form, melody, symbolism, and intertextuality are productive of particular politics. In the context of a still fragile peace in Northern Ireland, greater attention needs to be paid to the ways in which history, memory, and identity are shaped and performed to create a shared future for all.
