Songs Of Freedom: The James Connolly Songbook

James Connolly,Mat Callahan

Songs Of Freedom: The James Connolly Songbook
Format
Paperback
Publisher
PM Press
Country
United States
Published
9 December 2013
Pages
86
ISBN
9781604868265

Songs Of Freedom: The James Connolly Songbook

James Connolly,Mat Callahan

From the rollicking welcome of A Festive Song to the defiant battle cry of Watchword of Labor, Songs of Freedom accomplishes the difficult task of making contemporary music out of old revolutionary songs. Far from the archival preservation of embalmed corpses, the inspired performance of a rocking band turns the timeless lyrics of James Connolly into timely manifestos for today’s young rebels. As Connolly himself repeatedly urged, nothing can replace the power of music to raise the fighting spirit of the oppressed.

Giving expression to Connolly’s internationalism, musical influences ranging from traditional Irish airs to American rhythm and blues are combined here in refreshing creativity. As for the songs themselves, nine have lyrics by Connolly, three were written about Connolly, and one, The Red Flag, was chosen by Connolly to be in the original Songs of Freedom songbook of 1907, subsequently becoming a classic song of Labor. The instrumentation is acoustic: guitars, uilleann pipes, whistles, fiddle, accordion, and Irish harp, as well as drums and bass.

  1. A Festive Song
  2. Be Moderate
  3. Human Freedom
  4. Connolly Was There
  5. A Rebel Song
  6. Saoirse a Ruin
  7. When Labor Calls
  8. O Slaves of Toil
  9. Shake Out Your Banners
  10. The Irish Rebel
  11. The Red Flag
  12. Watchword of Labor
  13. Where Is James Connolly?

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