While we’re on the subject of pubs and guiness, lets not forger the harp. Perhaps the best known emblem representing Ireland.
Live music is still a regular event and not only the Irish traditional type to lure passing tourists. In the midland rural counties American country music has risen in popularity. This influence in turn has spawned country and Irish, mixing American country with Irish influences and traditional folk music.
Like horses and horse racing, music is part of the genetic makeup of the Irish. My other half, never far from his Fender, upholds the tradition that the country’s youth are brought up on the back of a pony only a riff away from a guitar, a fiddle or a singing relative. Traditional Irish music and all its derivations remains a strong influence on mainstream popular music.