2020 will be the first time in living memory since St. Patrick’s Day around the world has been cancelled en masse due to the Coronavirus.
Ireland had Foot & Mouth disease in 2001 that meant parades in Ireland were cancelled or postponed but this the global celebration of Irishness and all its distortion is unprecedented.
So when we can’t make public displays of Irishness, we can rely on the arts of our country to represent us. In Nialler9’s case, we represent the young and emerging music coming out of the country. This playlist is live through our lens, some of it making waves outside these borders (Fontaines. D.C., Just Mustard, Villagers, Lankum, Dermot Kennedy, EDEN, Krystal Klear). It’s alternative, pop, rap, electronic and never boring, and in that regard, it represents Ireland’s music scene more than anything.
More than that, it represents our Ireland, tracks we loved in the last year or so, the Irish music scene that we big up and see taken for granted sometimes.
In this uncertain time, remember there’s someone on the the other end of that Spotify playlist, who put heart and soul into that song, do your bit and buy some merch or purchase something from them. No artists can currently play live, some are live streaming from their houses, their spirits currently unbroken. Give them some encouragement that manifests in the real world.
My rolling, constantly updated new Irish music playlist is here
All our Irish coverage throughout the years is here.
