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I'm cooking up some new Mp3s

There are so many great, powerful songs about the hunger strikes. I once sat in a bar in West Belfast and watched hardened, 40-something former guerrillas tear up and raise a fist to the song "Joe McDonnell" as it was performed on stage by a former political prisoner. For so many reasons the musical tradition that has grown out of that struggle is truly inspiring. The chorus to "Joe McDonnell", one of the hunger strikers of 1981, goes as follows:

"And you dare to call me a terrorist
while you look down your gun
and I think of all the deeds that you have done
You have plundered many nations
divided many land
You have terrorized my people,
you ruled with an iron hand
And you brought the reign of terror to my land"

There are also terrific tunes about many other specific events on the last forty years. There is a rollicking number that pays tribute to the eight leading IRA militants who were gunned down by the SAS in an ambush in 1987 called simply "Loughgall Martyrs" (the chorus defiantly asks "England, do you really think it's over?/ If you do you're gunna have to kill us all"). There is a beautiful song based on the writings of Bobby Sands called "Marcella" as well as plenty of other Bobby Sands penned poems set to music. "The Rhythm of Time" is probably Sands' best known adapted poem. It is a powerful recollection of all the ways that people have fought injustice through the ages.
"Ten Brave Men" is a widely preformed song about the hunger strikes, so is the pride inducing tune "Role of Honor". These last two songs, as well as "Loughgall Martyrs", have been popularized by the 'rebel band' Eire Og of Glasgow, Scotland. There are bands that specialize in republican-themed music across the Irish diaspora, from San Fransisco's Bog Savages (fronted by a former IRA political prisoner) to Dublin's Adelante to New York's legendary Black 47 (who, wonderfully, are essentially an anti-imperialist bar band).

I promise I'm going to get some more rebel music Mp3s up on the webzine! Let me search around for the choicest tracks.

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