Podcasts

'Cultural cringe' as a response to traditional Irish music

An impromptu trad session on board a delayed Aer Lingus flight last week got a mixed response online and revealed the schism in Irish culture between celebrating traditional music and scoffing at the musicians and their “diddley-eye” tendencies.   People took to X, formerly Twitter, in droves to ridicule the musicians onboard, with some saying they’d rather the plane be hijacked than have to sit through the ruckus.  Where does this aversion to traditional Irish music come from, and why is it so widespread? Tom spoke to Edel Fox, a proud trad musician and a producer and director at Tyrone Productions. see more