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Contemporary Rebel Music

OK, comrades, I’ve got some hot new Rebel Music tracks for you. As I stated in the original post, Eire Og are a very popular Rebel band from Glasgow. They have since disbanded (but not decommissioned!) but their rollicking, sing-a-long performance style is still the one today’s bands emulate. They brought Rebel music into the 1990’s, a tumultuous and ultimately profoundly disappointing era for the republican cause. Eire Og kept spirits high as the movement was ‘winding down’.

1. Éire Óg “Loughgall Martyrs”
2. Eire Og “Go On Home British Soldiers”

These groups mainly identify with the Provisional IRA, which is the largest republican military group: the ‘mainstream IRA’ as it was. But there have been other guerrilla groups that have challenged British rule over the last 40 years of conflict. One such group is the explicitly socialist Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) and their political party, the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP). Ray Collins, a folk and bluesman who grew up in Belfast at the dawn of the recent war, is a long-standing performer whose solidarity is with the IRSP. Here is a great song from Ray praising the INLA for their daring and steadfastness fighting for national liberation and socialism. The next track is by an INLA-affiliated flute and drum group… a paramilitary must!

3. Ray Collins “INLA Freedom Fighters”
4. IRSM Derry Flute Band “Roll of Honor”

Gerry McGregor is a wonderful leftwing singer from Glasgow, Scotland, a town with a real legacy for producing exactly that kind of talent. I may focus on Scotland’s musical left in future installments. For now, here’s Gerry with two great tunes, recorded live in Scotland. The first song is about the death of young IRA volunteer Sean South, killed during the doomed “Border Campaign” of the 1950’s. Next is a song about the only way to get rid of pesky imperialist helicopters… Surface to Air Missiles (SAMs)! Liberate the skies!

5. Gerry McGregor “Sean South”
6. Gerry McGregor “SAM Song”

Again, the Mp3 series is just beginning. Future installments may include looks at Peggy Seeger, Dead Prez, Brazilian funk, and songs of the Cuban Revolution. Stay tuned.

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