The music of the Isle of Man reflects Celtic, Norse and other influences, including those from its neighbours, Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales. The Isle of Man is a small island nation in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland (and not part of the United Kingdom).
A wide range of music is performed on the island, such as rock, blues, jazz and pop. However, its traditional folk music has undergone a revival since the 1970s, starting with a music festival called in Ramsey. This was part of a general revival of the Manx language and culture, after the death of the last native speaker of Manx in 1974.
Musicians of the Manx musical revival include King Chiaullee, Skeeal, The Mannin Folk, Mactullagh Vannin, Moot and many others. Culture Vannin provides a central resource for Manx music and dance through the manxmusic.com website, which has links to most performers. Other artists who have produced CDs include Emma Christian ( – Beneath the Twilight), (voice, harp and recorder), and harpist and producer Charles Guard (Avenging and Bright), formerly an administrator at Culture Vannin. Many of the web entries about Manx music stem from Cliff McGann's 1996 article which is now somewhat out of date.
Early history
Little can be determined about the character of music on the Isle of Man prior to the 15th century. There are many carved crosses from this era, but they depict a total of two musicians, one lur player and a harpist. Songs from this era may have had Scandinavian origins; some also bear similarities to Irish and Scottish music. The song (the Manx sword dance) is very similar to a lullaby from the Hebrides and is also said to have been a ritual dance during the Scandinavian era.
The earliest written evidence describes fiddle music and a variety of folk dances. There was no harp tradition as was otherwise prevalent in Celtic music. English folk songs were very popular, later including broadside ballads, jigs and reels. Also extant were traditional Gaelic psalm-singing and other church music.
According to Fenella Bazin, "...[E]vidence from written sources shows that the Manx were enthusiastic dancers and musicians, often appearing in the ecclesiastical courts on charges on making music on Saturday nights or after church on Sundays." A traditional Manx melody is Mylecharane (The Manx National Air).
Carvals
In 1891, Manx antiquarian and folklorist Arthur William Moore published a collection of Manx Carols. The carval is related to the medieval English carol and sung to popular Manx tunes. These carols were formerly sung in the parish churches on Christmas Eve, or Oie'l Verrey (a corruption of Oie Feaill Voirrey (the eve of Mary's Feast, i.e. Christmas Eve), as it was called. It was the custom for the people on this night to bring their own candles, so that the church was brilliantly illuminated. Decorations mainly consisted of branches of holly and festoons of ivy. After the prayers were read and a hymn sung, the parson usually went home, leaving the clerk in charge. Then each one who had a carol to sing would do so in turn, so that the proceedings were continued till a very late hour, and sometimes also became of a rather riotous character, as it was a custom for the female part of the congregation to provide themselves with peas, which they flung at their bachelor friends. On the way home a considerable proportion of the congregation would probably visit the nearest inn, where they would partake of the traditional drink on such occasions, viz. hot ale, flavoured with spice, ginger, and pepper. It was traditional to sing Arrane Oie Vie (Good-night Song) on the way home.
Ballads
The ballad Ushtey Millish 'sy Garee relates to the old practice of summoning a jury of 24 men to decide questions connected with water-courses, boundaries, etc. and is dated to sometime prior to 1777. A bardoon was a locally composed song about the loss of a loved one at sea. Yn Chenn Dolphin (The Old Dolphin) is a tale about a shipwreck.