Irish Music is the generic term for music that has been created in various genres on the island of Ireland.
The indigenous music of the island is termed Irish traditional music. It has remained vibrant through the 20th, and into the 21st century, despite globalising cultural forces. In spite of emigration and a well-developed connection to music influences from Britain and the United States, Irish music has kept many of its traditional aspects and has itself influenced many forms of music, such as country and roots music in the USA, which in turn have had some influence on modern rock music. It has occasionally been fused with rock and roll, punk rock and other genres. Some of these fusion artists have attained mainstream success, at home and abroad.
 | In recent decades Irish music in many different genres has been very successful internationally. However, the most successful have been rock, popular and traditional fusion, with performers such as Clannad, Enya, Westlife, Thin Lizzy, The Pogues, Rory Gallagher, The Corrs, Van Morrison, The Cranberries, U2, and even The The Irish Tenors achieving success nationally and internationally. |
Up to the seventeenth century, harp musicians were patronised by the aristocracy in Ireland. This tradition died out in the eighteenth century with the collapse of Gaelic Ireland. Turlough Carolan (1670–1738) is the best known of those harpists, and over 200 of his compositions are known. He wrote in a baroque style that is usually classified as classical music, but his music has entered the tradition and is played by many folk musicians today. |  |
 | Performers of classical music of note include Catherine Hayes, (1818–1861), Ireland's first great international prima donna and the first Irish woman to perform at La Scala in Milan.Choral music in Ireland has produced Anúna, known for their contribution to Riverdance in the early 1990s. |
Irish traditional music includes many kinds of songs, including drinking songs, ballads and laments, sung unaccompanied or with accompaniment by a variety of instruments. In the nineteenth century folk instruments would have included the flute, the fiddle and the uilleann pipes.
A revival of Irish traditional music took place around the turn of the 20th century. The button accordion and the concertina were becoming common. An older style of singing called sean-nós (in the old style), which is a form of traditional Irish singing was still found, mainly for very poetic songs in the Irish language.
From 1820 to 1920 more than 4,400,000 Irish people emigrated to the USA. Irish musicians who were successful in the US made recordings which found their way around the world and re-invigorated musical styles back in the homeland.
Traditional music played a part in Irish popular music later in the century, with Clannad, Van Morrison, Hothouse Flowers and Sinéad O'Connor using traditional elements in popular songs. Enya achieved international success with New Age/Celtic fusions. The Pogues, led by Shane MacGowan helped fuse Irish folk with punk rock to some success beginning in the 1980s, while the Afro-Celt Sound System achieved fame adding West African influences and drum 'n' bass in the 1990s. Bands such as Kíla combine traditional Irish with rock and world music and represent the Irish tradition at world music festivals across Europe and America.
Riverdance is a musical and dancing interval act which originally starred Michael Flatley and Jean Butler and featuring the choir Anúna. It was performed during the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994. Popular reaction to the act was so immense that an entire musical revue was built around the act. |  |
The 1960's saw the emergence of major Irish rock bands and artists, such as Them (featuring Van Morrison), Rory Gallagher and Thin Lizzy.
Groups who formed during the emergence of Punk rock in the mid-late 1970's included U2, The Boomtown Rats and The Undertones, Later in the 80s and into the 90s, Irish punk fractured into new styles of alternative rock, which included That Petrol Emotion, My Bloody Valentine and Ash.
In the 1990s, pop bands like the Corrs, BeWitched, Boyzone, Westlife and The Cranberries emerged.
Since the 2000s the independent music industry is continuing to grow with acts like Snow Patrol leading the way.
The top five most successful (and still performing) bands/artists are:
1. U2 (rock) 33 Years 170 Million+ albums sold. |  |
2. Enya (Celtic/new age) 22 Years 80 Million+ albums sold. |  |
3. Van Morrison (rock & soul) 40 Years 55 Million+ albums sold. |  |
4. The Cranberries (rock) 13 Years 50 Million+ albums sold. |  |
5. The Corrs (pop) 11 Years 43 Million+ albums sold. |  |
