Music and Songs from Ireland code: TR050209 Wonderful stories of Ireland's pagan times narrate the saga of the Fianna, mythological cavalry warriors who guarded the island against any invasion and surprisingly, were poets at the same time. This CD performed by Na Fianna –an Argentinean band specializing in Irish music- and guest musicians, contains traditional compositions of the Irish folk. repertoire

The Irish Isle is located in the Atlantic Ocean. Its gentle climate, which favors agriculture and cattle breeding, is influenced by the warm Gulf Current, is one of the reasons why it has become known as "the Green Erin" (Éireann) or "the Emerald Isle". Its mountains are low and its crystal-water rivers flow gently towards the Atlantic or the Irish Sea, separating it from Great Britain. Existing records indicate that it was populated since the Stone Age. It is estimated that the Celts, originating in Gaul, arrived in Ireland between the 7th and the 3rd Centuries B.C., conquering and absorbing the existing population and establishing their civilization. It has an area of around 84,000 Km2, of which 70,000 Km2 correspond to the Republic of Ireland (Poblacht na Éireann), with a population of about 4 M and Dublin as its capital (Baile Ata Cliath), a city with 1 M inhabitants; while the remaining 14,000 Km2 correspond to Northern Ireland, with a population of approximately 1.6 M, with Belfast as its capital, which is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The Irish people are renowned in Europe due the wealth of their cultural tradition, in which poetry and music hold an important place, and because of an eventful history in which periods of tremendous strife for freedom alternate with periods of bounty during which a culture full of marvelous achievements flourished.
At the beginning of the Christian Era, Ireland was divided into five kingdoms: Ulster, Connacht, Leinster, Meath and Munster. Saint Patrick (387-March 17, 493) Apostle of Ireland, introduced the Christian faith in the year 432. At a time when the Western Roman Empire was becoming extinguished, the Irish monasteries became reservoirs of Classical culture, and Ireland also became known as "the island of the saint and the wise."
The Viking raids along the country's 1,500 km of coasts began in 795 (they founded settlements that would later become the cities of Dublin, Wexford, Donegal, and Limerick, among others) and ended in the year 1014, when they were defeated by the only king (Árd Righe) of the whole of Ireland, Brian Ború (940-1014) in the Battle of Clontarf, where the King was killed by the enemy after having achieved victory.
In the 12th Century, Adrian IV, the only English to ever hold Saint Peter's throne (Pope 1154-1159), offered in a bull the whole of the Irish Isle as a feud of the English Crown, thus giving start to fights that lasted until the 20th Century, when the Republic of Ireland was established.
In 1801, by the Act of Union, Great Britain and Ireland formed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The following decades saw a slow decline of the Irish economy that reached its low point with the Great Famine or An Gorta Mór (1846-1848). The country's population, which amounted to 8.25 M, tragically decreased by half due to starvation plus the over 2 M who migrated, mainly to the United States of America. Since that time, Irish music has been an important influence on American music, not only in genres such as Country and Appalachian music, but also in jazz jamming, something typical of Irish sessions.
With the advent of the First World War, the so-called Easter Rebellion broke out in the city of Dublin (April 24 to 29, 1916) in an unsuccessful attempt of Irish nationalists to become free from English domination. That was the start of guerrilla warfare and the proclamation of a republic in 1919, when the Irish Parliament was established. On December 6, 1922, the Free State of Ireland was established as a Dominion (Saorstad na hÉireann), with the six Northern counties remaining as part of the United Kingdom. As a consequence, a civil war erupted between those in favor of the Anglo-Irish treaty and those who rejected it, because it led to the partition of the territory.
In 1937, a new constitution restored the country's name as Éire, which remained neutral during the Second World War. The Republic of Ireland was proclaimed on April 18, 1949, and withdrew from the British Commonwealth of Nations. The Republic's three-color flag was created with the same colors –albeit in a different layout—in the mid 19th Century, by Thomas F. Meaghan. This nationalist was transported to Tasmania, Australia, from where he escaped to settle in the United States, practicing as a lawyer in New York. With the rank of Brigadier, he commanded the Irish Brigade in the Union's Army, during the American Civil War. He had devised the flag using Orange for the Irish Protestants, Green for the Irish Catholics and White representing peace and agreement between both groups of his countrymen.
During eight centuries, the Irish people have gone through long periods of poverty and deprivation that led many of its citizens to seek refuge in other nations of the world, interleaved with periods of exaltation linked to their identity and independence, always amidst battles and strife. This new millennium finds Ireland in a period of freedom with brilliant economic progress, which is undoubtedly the cause for smiles in Irish eyes as well as in those of all the visitors who discover the qualities that distinguish this very special people.

THE IRISH IN THE REPUBLIC OF ARGENTINA

The current of Irish migration that had flowed to the Republic of Argentina, ceased almost completely before the end of the 19th Century. By that time, it had given rise to the largest Irish colony in a non-English speaking country.
The first Irish to set foot in what is now Argentine territory were part of exploration or evangelization expeditions. The Spanish fleet commanded by Don Hernando de Magellan, which explored the Argentine Patagonia and discovered the Malvinas Islands in 1520, supposedly included Irish crew members.
The first arrival of an Irishman identified as such was that of Father Thomas Fehily or Field S.J., who came to the Plata from Peru in 1586, as one of the five first Jesuit missionaries who settled in Paraguay –then a Province reporting to the Buenos Aires Governor--, to convert the Indians to the Catholic faith. Some Irishmen or Irish-Spaniards were part of the Administration of the Viceroyship, and settled in the country after leaving office, especially as from the 18th Century. In general, they had traveled from Spain and adopted a Castilian spelling for their names.
Later arrivals were a consequence of military expeditions. In 1762, a British squadron arrived to the Plata River to provide support to their Portuguese allies at Colonia del Sacramento, a port city established in 1680, as part of the Portuguese expansion project to control the East Coast of the Plata River. The local Spanish forces defeated them and took prisoners, who were later returned when a peace treaty was signed, with the exception of some Irishmen, who preferred to stay behind.
In 1806 and 1807 the British Invasions took place within the framework of the war that Spain, as a French ally, had been waging against England since 1805. The aim was to gain control of the Viceroyship of the Plata River Provinces, established as such in 1776, by conquering its capital city, Buenos Aires. On June 27, 1806 the British occupied the city and their commander, Brigadier William Carr Beresford, born in Ireland, ruled it for about six weeks for the British Crown. On August 13 he surrendered to the re-conqueror of Buenos Aires, Santiago de Liniers y Bremond, a French nobleman at the service of Spain.
The Second Invasion, with a much larger deployment of forces, disembarked in the Cove (Ensenada), some 60 Km south of Buenos Aires, on June 28, 1807. The combats to defend the city began on July 2nd, with partial victories for the British and restarted on the 5th, with so many casualties for the invading army that its capitulation was signed on July 7th. The expedition included numerous Irish soldiers, who were part of different Army units. Among them, the 88th Foot Regiment, Connaught Rangers, who suffered over 200 casualties in the fight. A certain number of soldiers and officers who had been made prisoners were interned in the hinterland, and preferred to remain in the country instead of being repatriated.
What is today the Republic of Argentina was part of the Spanish Empire until May 25, 1810, when a first government independent from the Spanish Crown was established in Buenos Aires. This decision gave rise to the Wars of Independence in South America that ended the Spanish domination of the sub-continent in 1826.
Some of the former prisoners of 1806 and 1807 would subsequently participate, on a voluntary basis, in the Army of the Andes that would cross the mountains in 1817, to fight the Spanish military machine in South America and besides securing the independence of Argentina, obtain that of Chile, Peru and Ecuador. Irishmen took part in these wars, with ranks varying from soldier to general.
The most relevant Irishman of the period was Navy Brigadier General, Admiral William Brown, born in Foxford, County Mayo, on June 23, 1777. Considered the founder of the Argentine Navy, he organized and directed a fleet in battle, first against the Spanish Armada, defeated in the naval combats that took place between March and May, 1814, continuing later with corsair actions against Spanish trade. Between 1825 and 1828 he commanded the fleet in the War with Brazil, the Portuguese stronghold that sought to solidify its conquest of the East Bank, one of the provinces of the Viceroyship with capital in Buenos Aires. In spite of the serious Brazilian defeats on land and sea, the later achieved by Brown and his captains, a Peace Treaty later established the Republic of Uruguay in the territory of the East Bank, a Brazilian diplomatic achievement.
In these two wars, the Argentine naval forces operated with a remarkable inferiority of resources against their adversaries. Still, Brown's seamen fought with such courage and drive that they defeated their enemies in every battle. William Brown died in Buenos Aires, at age 80, after having lived in the country for 43 years.
The largest and most numerous contribution of the Irish to the development of Argentina took place in the period following the War with Brazil and until the end of the 19th Century. It is important to note that a sizeable proportion of these immigrants, who mostly came from Counties Westmeath and Longford, was formed by mildly affluent farmers who had the resources allowing them to rapidly establish themselves in the countryside as wool producers, and improve economically.
Sheep ranches first (towards 1875 over half the wool exported by Argentina came from Irish establishments) and cattle ranches later, received production technology contributions in which the Irish were pioneers: generalization of wire fencing and water mills; perfected construction materials; genetic improvement of animals and breeding techniques.
According to census data and records (*) the Irish recorded as having entered Argentina through the Port of Buenos Aires between 1822 and 1868, were: 3,883 (2,362 men). The inhabitants recorded in the 1869 census, in the Province and the City of Buenos Aires (where the majority resided) were: Irish 5,246 (3,386 men); Irish-Argentine 3,377 (1,631 men). The inhabitants recorded in the 1895 Census, country-wide, were: Irish 5,407 (3,160 men); Irish-Argentine 13,210 (6,634 men). Between 1869 and 1895 the number of Irish increased by 161 people, i.e. 3%, while the increase for all the foreign population residing in Argentina in that period was 80%, almost 27 times more.
The 1895 census shows that most of the Irish who came to Argentina were true colonizers of rural areas: of the 5,407 residents, 3,821 (70%) lived in the countryside. The jurisdiction with the largest Irish population was the Province of Buenos Aires, followed by the city of Buenos Aires and the Province of Santa Fe. It is estimated that today the Irish-Argentine community may comprise between 200,000 and 250,000 people.
(*) Investigated by Eduardo A. Coghlan (1912-1997), judge, genealogist and historian.