Author: Morgan McDonnell

 

The 19th century experiences of African-Americans in the United States’ deep south brought about the introduction of blues music. Slaves formulated their own identity with work songs and ballads that led to rhythm and blues and became infused with jazz and rock and roll. 20th century artists such as Muddy Waters, B.B. King, and Robert Johnson defined the blues movement and made it so influential.

This musical style played a significant role in the novel by Bernard MacLavery. When Cal visited the library, he had access to “black soul” blues music that paralleled his Irish existence with that of the African-American struggle. Blues music is characterized by displacement, which relates to Cal as he struggles to find his identity within Irish society. A tape by Muddy Waters opened Cal’s eyes to his universal struggle. We discussed how identity defines the actions and life goals of individuals to provide a sense of purpose, and Cal needed this kind of definition to make sense of his own situation as a young Catholic victimized by his government.

The blues helped to define Cal’s difficult position and gave him a course of action similar to the enslaved blacks by helping him to work through the challenging times. Cal finds refuge in his ability to identify with African-American culture and views this commonality as a beacon of hope. An article by Reid Makowsky deeply analyzes this blues influence in Cal. 

Two Ways of Responding to ‘Troubles’: Bernard MacLaverty’s Use of the Blues and the Western in Cal

 

The Commitments, a novel by Roddy Doyle, features a group of unemployed young men from Dublin who want to start a blues band and seek help from a friend to manage them. The story focuses on the group as they overcome adverse economic conditions and find their place in society. Just as American blues artists were united in their struggle for equality through exploring rhythm and blues, the Dubliners bound together using colloquial language and their love of the blues to create a collective identity for themselves.

Blues Intro Page (previous)

Blues Influences (next)

Modern Music

Gary Moore was a musician born in 1952 in Belfast who was entrenched in the blues. He grew up among the troubles and incorporated the influence of the blues into his work. He was pulled into the blues scene when renowned artists Jimi Hendrix and Peter Green visited his hometown. Green was a part of John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers at the time and later went on to found Fleetwood Mac. He was one of Moore’s biggest influences, and Moore later released an album in which he covered exclusively Peter Green tunes to honor him, entitled “Blues for Greeny.”

 

B.B. King was an American blues musician who was nicknamed “King of the Blues” and was inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame this year. He performed live with Moore and rocked audiences with their command of the style. The collaboration welcomes an overlap between American blues and Northern Irish blues, underlining the community that the blues can create and the commonality between the struggles of an African-American man in the deep south can find with a Northern Irish Catholic amidst the troubles.

Hozier, now an extremely popular Irish artist across the world for songs such as “Take Me to Church”, has his roots embedded in American blues artists such as Muddy Waters. Hozier’s “Working Song” discusses deviance and the fight against authority, which can easily be related to the Catholic situation in Northern Ireland. NPR recently interviewed the artist discussing how Hozier was influenced by African-American blues artists such as Muddy Waters, and also states his distaste with the influence of groups such as the Church.

 

 

Northern Ireland has become world renowned for blues music, and most famously for its International Guinness Blues on the Bay Festival. The festival takes place in Warrenpoint, and in 2014 experienced its 16th year. The festival is traditionally non-for-profit. [bluesonthebay.co.uk]

 

 

 

In the past year’s festival, Shawn Jones was featured with his album “Struggle Makes You Stronger.” The album is reminiscent of Cal’s search for masculinity, and finding an identity through physical labor.

 

 

 

As a side note, American culture has also embraced the blues and exposed children of our generation to the soul-filled sounds. In an episode of the Nickelodeon sitcom Drake and Josh, the boys perform “Soul Man” by The Blues Brothers.

Overall, the struggles underlined throughout Cal such as the need for equality and a desire to embrace masculinity had a strong overlap with common blues themes. This led Cal to seek out blues music as a refuge from the troubles and identify with others who experienced adversity of a similar nature and translated their problems into art. While blues music progresses over time, its foundation will always lie in countering sadness, whether it be right in the deep south or amidst the strife of Northern Ireland.

Van Morrison and the Maritime Hotel (previous)

[1] “Gary Moore Official Website – Biography.” Gary Moore Official Website – Biography. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.

[2] “John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Nov. 2014. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.

[3] “B.B. King.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Nov. 2014. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.

[4] “Everything You Need to Know About Hozier.” Fuse. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.

 

Van Morrison and the Maritime Hotel

Image: plaque crediting the site of the Maritime Hotel [1]

The Rhythm and Blues movement Blues gained awesome popularity in the 1960s. A major player in this movement was Van Morrison, singer in the band Them. Morrison created the R&B club at the Maritime Hotel in Belfast, which exploded into instant popularity. Maritime Hotel in Belfast was a hub for the blues, as it became central to the rhythm and blues movement, transforming the musical identity of the 60’s. [2]

 Image: Them [4] This article relates the origins of Van Morrison, and the band Them, to the  celebrated Maritime Hotel.

Image: The Belfast Blues Appreciation Society is marking the past home of Van Morrison, signifying the importance of Morrison in the Blues community. [3]

The song by Van Morrison, “Into the Mystic” relates Irish elements, like the discovery of an essence and the search for a spiritual meaning. It is reminiscent of John Montague’s  poetry, where he is searching for an essence of Ireland, however he cannot find it. This is contrary to Yeats poetry, which is heavily reliant on a cultural nationalism and evoking a state of an ideal, celtic spirit. This spiritual concept of Ireland could only be enjoyed by the aristocracy, which in turn patronized Yeats’s work. Montague struggles with his identity because he was displaced at a young age, and doesn’t understand his nationality, or why he should be nationalistic.  In Morrison’s lyric, “Hark, now hear the sailors cry,” verbalizes that the sailors cannot find the essence. This searching for essence also questions the “essence” of home. “Into the Mystic” relates Morrison’s home-coming, another element of Irish identity, in the unfamiliarity in the home, or feeling of displacement in one’s nation.

“We were born before the wind
Also younger than the sun
Ere the bonnie boat was won as we sailed into the mystic
Hark, now hear the sailors cry
Smell the sea and feel the sky
Let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic”

Muddy Waters’s song “I Be’s Troubled” highlights characteristics of the Mississippi Delta blues. With this opening verse, the evident feeling of longing and desire relates to the stagnation of the Northern Irish political scene during the Troubles.

“I Be’s Troubled
Well if I feel tomorrow, like I feel today
I’m gonna pack my suitcase, and make my getaway
Lord I’m troubled, I’m all worried in mind
And I’m never bein’ satisfied, and I just can’t keep from cry in'”

Blues Influences (previous)

Modern Music (next)

[1] “Geograph – Photograph Every Grid Square.” Maritime Hotel Plaque, Belfast (C) Albert Bridge. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.

[2] Devlin, Patrick. “Maritime Hotel.” – Birthplace of Rhythm & Blues in Belfast. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.

[3] Caulfield, Annie. “Follow That Van: Taking a Musical Tour of Belfast in Search of the Great Van Morrison.” Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 04 Sept. 2012. Web. 12 Dec. 2014

[4] “A Band with a Van.” LPCover Lover RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.

Spiritual songs helped deliver African Americans from political oppression and developed the blues style as a retaliation to this treatment. The blues applied to the Northern Irish situation due to both marginalized groups using pathos to define their identity. Specific references to blues songs and musicians in Cal include the working song “Take this Hammer” and Muddy Waters.

Image: Muddy Waters preforms at a club [1]

An example of Cal tying his own identity to the position of African Americans could be found while Cal was singing a traditional working song while cutting wood. Cal begins to sing a part of “Take this Hammer”. He sings, “Take this hamm-er, carry it to the cap-tain.” [2]. Here he directly compares his own position to that of a black laborer. By singing this song while doing labor for the sake of his father, he is reinforcing his subject position of being his father’s son. He is also reinforcing the position of Irish Catholics as the “hewers of wood and the drawers of water” [2]. This, coming from a priest teaching in a school, shows how embedded and widespread these sentiments are in Northern Irish society; he is reinforcing the notion that Irish Catholics are to Protestants as blacks are to whites in traditional America. This could allow for Catholics to feel justified in their violence towards Protestants.

“If he asks you was I runnin’

Tell him I was flyin’

If he asks you was I laughin’

Tell him I was cryin'”

Video: Leadbelly preforms “Take this Hammer”, as sung by Cal [3]. Lyrics

While observing Marcella in the library on page 14, Cal checks out a Muddy Waters tape. “Her gestures, the way she raised and rested the rim of her cup on her lip before sipping, every movement of her face hypnotized him. He chose a blues tape of Muddy Waters and went up to the counter and waited.” [2] Muddy Waters had a focus on the plight of the working man and created music that those marginalized by society could relate to. Muddy Waters was predominantly known for moving blues music from the deep South to Chicago in the United States. This theme of displacement is significant in both African American culture and Northern Irish Catholic culture, allowing for this sort of diffusion.

Video: Muddy Waters Blues Band singing Work Song which captures the essence of black soul music [4]

 

Literary Works and Media (previous)

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