Nicholas Harding Bradley - IRLL Archive

In our capitalist society, music has become a decidedly financial endeavor as significant monetary resources are essential in not only the creation and distribution of most mainstream music, but also in the exhibition of a lifestyle which mainstream audiences find desirable. In the scope of Irish society, this can be seen in how the emergence of significant demand, alongside increased commercial viability, has impacted and influenced the development of Irish music in recent decades. This impact can be seen most clearly in the gradual professionalization of the Irish musician, the trade-off these musicians face in balancing authenticity and commercial success, and the change in instrumentation and equipment in the continuing Irish music tradition.             While modern-day Ireland would be considered by many to be a prosperous, wealthy nation, traditional Irish music mostly originates from a time of relative poverty in Ireland. As a result of this, a lack of financial resource

The book that is the subject of this review is titled “Turning the Tune: Traditional Music, Tourism, and Social Change in an Irish Village” by Adam R. Kaul. It was originally published in November 2009 by Berghahn Books. It is roughly 200 pages in length and falls in the niche of performance studies, under the wider genre of general anthropology. Dr. Adam Kaul is a socio-cultural anthropologist, and professor at Augustana College, who specializes in the social impacts of tourism. Stemming from this, the primary issue addressed by this book is the affect that a rapid increase in tourism has had on the social structure of Doolin, Co. Clare, but more specifically, how it has impacted the traditional Irish music scene which has been deeply ingrained in and associated with this area. Dr. Kaul conducts an in-depth examination of Doolin, taking into account its history, traditional and contemporary social structure, and cultural roots. In establishing its progression from the 19 th centu