Irish showband

In Ireland, from the mid 1950s to the late 1970s, the main source of music at dance halls was the showband ( _ga. seóbhanna). These were initially smaller imitations of Dixieland big bands, with 6–12 musicians and one or two singers; later the repertoire expanded to include cover versions of whatever was popular on the radio: rock and roll, country and western, jazz standards and Irish traditional music. Many showbands featured a brass section, one of the hallmark sounds of the genre. They toured constantly around the country, and the more successful bands also went to Britain and the United States.

Famous Bands

The first showband to play while standing rather than seated was the Clipper Carlton. Brendan Bowyer, Tom Dunphy and the Royal Showband had a hit in 1965 with "The Hucklebuck". The Freshmen, led by Billy Brown and Derek Dean, produced lush harmonies in their covers of hits by The Beach Boys and Jan and Dean. Dickie Rock performed Elvis Presley songs with appropriate gyrations.

The most famous of the showbands attained legendary status in Ireland and names like The Royal Showband, Clubsound,The Smokey Mountain Ramblers, Dickie Rock and the Miami, Butch Moore and the Capitol, Joe Dolan and the Drifters, became household names. Many of the stars of the era continue to perform today.

Northern Ireland

Showbands regularly crossed the border while touring. As the Troubles developed from the last 1960s, audiences in Northern Ireland for southern bands were predominantly Irish nationalist and dances often included rebel songs and ended with "Amhrán na bhFiann", the Irish national anthem. This caused some resentment among loyalists, suspicious of border-crossing as an activity frequently undertaken by Republican paramilitaries. The Miami Showband killings in 1975 occurred when a UVF attempt to frame the band as IRA members was botched, and instead band members were shot dead. This episode horrified many, greatly reduced cross-border touring, and hastened the decline of the showband industry. []

Dance Halls

The dance halls were usually simple barn-like buildings at the edge of town, painted in bright colours inside and out. They had fanciful names such as "Fairyland", "Dreamland", "Wonderland", etc. Each hall in smaller towns would only host a dance every several weeks, with patrons arriving in shared cars or by bicycle from the surrounding towns and countryside.

Halls were constructed cheaply by local entrepreneurs. Many in the midlands were operated by Albert Reynolds, who would later become Taoiseach.

Halls did not have licences to sell alcohol; besides being too expensive to obtain for a venue that was rarely used, the Catholic Church feared that mixing alcohol with dancing would increase the likelihood of sexual vice. The parish priest often patrolled the surrounding car park and fields for evidence of "company keeping". Within the dancehall, men and women stood on opposite sides of the hall with their same-sex friends while not dancing. In later years these strictures eased greatly, though alcohol remained unavailable.

At its height, the industry employed thousands of workers and there were as many as 700-800 bands traveling the country. In the 1970s the showband phenomenon was faltering and the showbands generally revamped themselves into either pop or country bands as a combination of discos, hotels and bar extensions brought the ballrooms, and the industry to an end.

Legacy

Several Irish musicians who crossed over to international rock success began their careers with showbands, including Van Morrison and Rory Gallagher.

From the mid 1960s exposure increased, especially in urban centres, to newer forms of rock and pop music, performed by original artists. This was due to access to British television and radio stations, pirate radio, and new record shops catering to these tastes. Young people increasingly saw showbands as old-fashioned and rustic. The dance halls began closing in the mid 1970s, although some of the original bands continue to perform into the 21st century at smaller venues for their loyal if aging fanbase.

William Trevor's 1972 short story "The Ballroom of Romance", made into a TV movie by RTÉ, is a much-anthologised account of the stultifying limitations of rural life in Ireland in the 1970s, set against a night at the eponymous local dancehall.

Many former patrons have happier memories of the "showband era", and a nostalgic Irish cliché holds that most married couples of a certain age met at a dance where one of the showbands was playing.

References

*

*cite book|author=William Trevor|year=1972|title=The Ballroom of Romance and other stories|publisher=Bodley Head|id=ISBN 0-370-01468-5

*cite book|author=Finbar O'Keefe|year=2002|title=Goodnight, God Bless and Safe Home - The Golden Showband Era|publisher=The O'Brien Press|id=ISBN 0-86278-777-7

*cite book|author=Harry McCourt|year=1992|title="Oh How we Danced"|publisher=Guidhall Press|id=ISBN 0-946451-22-2

*cite book|author=Vincent Power|year=2000|title=Send'em Home Sweatin': The Showband Story|publisher=Mercier Press|id=ISBN 1-85635-330-3

External links

* [http://www.irishshowbands.net Irishshowbands.net - Irish Showbands & Beat-Groups Archive]
* [http://www.iangallagher.com/Memories.htm Ian Gallagher's Showband Memories]
* [http://www.jivenaires.com/showbands.html Jivenaires.com] list of some of the more well-known showbands, some with images.
* [http://www.irish-showbands.com Irish-showbands.com - Gerry Gallagher's tribute to the Showband Era]
* [http://www.munster-express.ie/050513/opinion1.htm Top 100 Irish singles from the 60s] A poll published in the Munster Express in 2005 includes many of the biggest showband hits.