In Irish culture, the Celtic Harp is a metaphor for human struggle, freedom and intellectual life and, as such, is inextricably bound to politics. Separating Irish society from its politics, the birth of its government and music is simply not possible. Having a conference on Music and Civic Space in Ireland made a kind of sense in this way. In May 2005, an interdisciplinary group of international scholars were invited to University College Cork by the Department of Government to discuss the relationship between music and governance and, in particular, music’s role in creating public culture. The symposium offered here to the readers of Public Voices is a product and a direct outcome of the conference.
