It probably isn’t a good idea to go to a Barghest show
unless you plan on dancing. A lot.
“You should dance because that’s what the point of
all this music is.”
That’s what Ian Martyn says to audiences whenever
Barghest, a band consisting of five third-year UCLA students who
play traditional Irish music, performs.
“Whenever we play in front of an audience I always want to
say “˜Dance!'” he added. “(This music) would
not exist if it were not for dance.”
Martyn plays the bouzouki ““ a mandolin-like instrument
that originated in Greece and was pillaged by the Irish ““ in
Barghest, which formed in March 2005.
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music by Barghest.
The band consists of Martyn (an African languages student), Liz
Cheney (history) on flute, Paula Matei (history) and Sean Martin
(Japanese) on violin, and Andrew Merenbach (pre-cognitive science)
on the bodhrán, an Irish drum.
Sharing a common interest in Irish music, the band members found
each other through a variety of clubs and classes on campus,
starting with Martyn’s foray into the Irish Club.
The band has actually played at two Irish Club events. In 2005
it played at the Saint Patrick’s Day Festival, and in 2006 it
provided the music for the O’Bruins play.
“It was set at a pub in Ireland. People just sort of
gather and play music and call it a session,” Martyn said.
“So we were supposed to be in a session-type setting and add
music here and there.”
The band has also performed twice on UCLAradio.com, at
Martyn’s high school, on the UC Berkeley campus and on the
street.
“We busk,” Martyn said with a laugh.
Part of the band even played outside Rite Aid in Westwood last
Halloween.
“There are lots of songs about ghosts,” Matei said,
while also noting the humorous side of the genre, with tunes titled
“I Buried My Wife and Danced on Top of Her” and
“Pull Out the Knife and Stick it in Her.”
“There’s variety (within the genre) but still a very
distinct style,” Martyn said. “Someone’s love
always dies or wife leaves him for someone else.”
In addition to the content of the lyrics, the traditional tunes
the band plays are united by their high energy, hence
Martyn’s desire for audiences to
dance.
The concerts themselves are often unpredictable, depending on
the band’s mood.
“Irish traditional music is just a bunch of tunes and you
can sort of put them together in whatever order you want as
sets,” Martyn said.
“Some sets we definitely play a lot,” added
Martin.
Besides dancing, one of the main reasons people are attracted to
the music are the lyrics, which ““ though sometimes humorous
““ often connect the tunes to the mythology of Ireland.
“I think it is associated with modern fantasy ““
going into the woods, and the chase and the hunt,” Martyn
said. “People in this modern world of technology want to get
back to the forest, so they like this kind of thing.”
Although audience reaction to the music is generally positive,
Martin points out this may be a product of the venues the band
plays.
“Most of the time the audience is kind of expecting (this
sort of music),” Martin said.
On the other hand, his bandmate Martyn recognizes that the band
must also deal with some listeners’ aversion to expanding
their musical vocabulary.
“It’s hard to get people out of their element
because they (think), “˜Oh no, this is foreign and therefore I
don’t understand it, and therefore I’m not going
to listen to it,'” Martyn said.
Matei agrees, but added that playing to such an audience has its
rewards.
“We like exposing people to new stuff that maybe they
don’t usually get to hear,” she said.
And that, it seems, is reason enough to dance.