Folk music in Ireland is not very popular until collections by George Petrie and others were found in the 18th century. It also gained popularity when Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann organized its Fleadh Cheoil music festival. Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann is an organization that promotes the music, song, dance, and language of Irish artists such as the Clancy Brothers, whose success is best seen in the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In the 1970s, music folkloric is combined with rock. and roll and punk like Flogging Molly and Dropkick Murphys are doing today.
Caoineadh’s songs are the most famous in folk music. The term Caoineadh means crying, and as such, it portrays emotions such as sadness, sorrow, and pain. Most of the time, his lyrics talk about the departure of an individual for political or financial reasons. It can also define the lost love of a man. Many Caoineadh songs originated from The Troubles of Northern Ireland, as that was where the British Army was based at the time.
A famous example of Caoineadh songs is Danny Boy (written in 1910). It tells the story of a woman who is sad because her man is going to war. She also interpreted the pain of a father for the son of her soldier of hers. Seamus Kennedy has his own interpretation of this song. The song titled Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye (early 1900’s) is also a famous Caoineadh song sung by famous singers like Karan Casey and Joan Baez. Unlike Danny Boy, this song is against the war.
