For God and Ulster: Blood and Thunder Bands and Loyalist Political Culture

Abstract

As this quotation indicates, music is a prominent feature of most public parades. In Northern Ireland the flute and drum marching bands provide much of the noise and the colour at the numerous loyal order parades. They provide the rhythm for those who are walking and much of the entertainment for those who come out to watch. A member of one loyal order was clear on the importance of the bands for a good parade: ‘People come to watch the bands, they don’t come to watch a group of men walking in their regalia’. He contrasted the crowds that came out for the mini-Twelfth parades and the band parades with the few people who bothered to watch church parades. These were commonly accompanied by bands playing hymn tunes in contrast to the more raucous, secular music of the main parades. Marching in the parades is also a big attraction for the men who make up the bands: ‘You get a real buzz when you walk back into Belfast on the Twelfth and you see the crowds out cheering you’. One bandsman went further when he told me: ‘It’s better than sex’. Although his colleagues were clearly not convinced of this, belonging to one of the better bands does offer a certain status within one’s community and amongst one’s peers. Some of the bands attract a substantial following of teenage girls who walk alongside ‘their’ band throughout the duration of the parade, shouting for tunes, cheering and chanting and carrying the much-needed refreshment.

‘Bands, bands and more bands’. The organiser of the New York St Patrick’s Day parade defines the essential ingredients for a good parade.