MEP Daughter of Seán Ó Riada Calls for Irish Music Initiative

The news published by the Celtic League:

MEP Daughter of Seán Ó Riada Calls for Irish Music Initiative

NEWS FROM THE CELTIC LEAGUE

Sinn Fein MEP Liadh Ní Riada has written to Ireland’s Minister for Communications to call for more Irish music to be played on radio stations in the Country.

She says such a move would stimulate the music industry and, whilst the initiative is aimed at both contemporary and traditional music, Laidh Ní Raid is of course the daughter of Seán Ó Riada – probably the most influential figure in Irish traditional music in the twentieth century who composed and adapted Irish music brilliantly in the 1960s.

Ó Riada founded and led Ceoltóirí Chualann a music group that contained many of the members of The Chieftains, a group which catapulted Irish music to International prominence (see link below).

Speaking about her initiative, Liadh Ní Riada said:

“Ireland is recognised worldwide for its rich cultural heritage and our extremely talented musicians and composers are central to this. Unfortunately those involved in the Irish music industry are struggling to make ends meet due to the lack of radio airplay they get on our national radio stations.

“It is extremely difficult for Irish music to compete with the multi-national music companies of mainly Britain, the USA and Australia who dominate the broadcasting sector in Ireland. The reality is that the broad spectrum of Irish music in Ireland is given very little consideration on radio and gets less than 10% of the annual airplay.
“Ireland is bursting with talented artists and in this economic climate, we surely need to be tapping into this creativity, encouraging and nurturing our musicians, our songwriters, and our performers. We need to provide real investment into our creative industry.

I understand that the Minister has maintained that it is a European directive that is preventing them from applying such a quota. I find this hard to believe as I am aware that that in France they managed to legislate for 40% airplay in 1996 because of language and culture. I strongly believe that Ireland must now be given similar consideration. I find this reasoning to be disingenuous and I believe that it is a lack of will that is preventing him from taking appropriate action.”

She went on:

“A proper percentage airplay is crucial for Irish music. It will help to develop and maintain a strong industry into the future.“

(Seán Ó Riada, Wikipedia)

J B Moffatt (Mr)
Director of Information
Celtic League

15/06/15

(Please note that replies to correspondence received by the League and posted on CL News are usually scanned hard copies. Obviously every effort is made to ensure the scanning process is accurate but sometimes errors do occur.)

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