Orange is Sweet to Some, Bitter to Others: Cathie Ryan and The 12th of July (Lament for the Children)"

Today's random tune is by Cathie Ryan, an Irish-American native of Detroit, Michigan. Ryan was exposed early to Irish musicians such as Tommy Makem and the Clancy Brothers as well as American musicians such as Johnny Cash, Jim Reeves and Hank Williams. In her childhood she idolized her father, a tenor, who taught her how to interpret and honor songs by knowing their histories and contexts. She was also exposed to the music of Appalachia from neighbors who had migrated to Michigan to work in the auto factories and gained an appreciation for the likes of Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline, as well as the local music out of Motown. Moving to New York, she learned more about traditional Irish music from her then husband singer-songwriter Dermot Henry and mentor Joe Heaney. After graduating from CUNY with a degree in English Literature and Secondary Education, she began teaching at Lehmann College in the Bronx, but left the classroom behind as her singing career began to blossom. She still continues to teach workshops in traditional Irish singing and Irish mythology and folklore. She was a member of the all female Celtic group Cherish the Ladies. This song, The 12th of July (Lament for the Children), can be found on her 1997 debut album Cathie Ryan. The song laments an Ireland divided between "orange" and "green," but also notes that both are rooted and nourished in the same soil and will either grow or perish together. Words rooted in the present when the song was written, which also look back to the past and may foreshadow the future as Britain leaves the European Union which may cut off Northern Ireland once again from the south. The title refers to the Northern Irish Protestant day of celebration of the Battle of the Boyne, where King James II was defeated by King William of Orange in 1690, leading to Protestant ascendancy in Ireland reflected in the Northern Ireland province today.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathie_Ryan