Just Irish Music

The Rath of Mullaghmast stands as one of the darkest and most haunting places in Irish history, remembered for a massacre that symbolised the total betrayal of Ireland’s ancient clans. In the late sixteenth century, as English rule tightened its grip across Leinster, the Gaelic chieftains were invited to a grand assembly at Mullaghmast in County Kildare. The summons came under the seal of friendship, a promise of peace and protection from the Lord Deputy of Ireland, who claimed that reconciliation would end the turmoil between the Irish lords and the English Crown. Trusting in his word, the chiefs of Leinster came unarmed, accompanied by their families and followers, dressed in the rich garments of their rank and carrying the pride of generations that had ruled long before foreign power came to their shores. What awaited them was treachery. Hidden among the English soldiers and servants who welcomed them with smiles were the very men chosen to destroy them. At a prearranged signal, the...

The Croppy Boy is one of the most haunting and sorrow-filled rebel ballads to survive from the 1798 Rebellion. It tells the personal story of a young Irish volunteer — a “croppy,” named for the cropped hair worn by the United Irishmen — who stands proud for Ireland, only to be betrayed, condemned, and executed. Unlike the big broad histories of empires and armies, this ballad is intimate. It speaks through the voice of one doomed man — and through him, it speaks for thousands. The imagery in the lyrics is devastatingly direct. The song begins in the bright freshness of spring — birds singing, Ireland seemingly alive with hope — but the mood shifts instantly as the Yeoman cavalry seize him and drag him before Lord Cornwall. From there, the betrayal tightens like a noose: not only soldiers, not only magistrates, but his own kin turn against him. A cousin sells his life for a single guinea. A father denies him on the gallows. His mother tears her hair in grief. The tragedy is...