manx celtic music and dance

RESEARCH ARTICLE - The Origins of Hi! Kelly

14 Feb 2017

The Origins of ‘Hi! Kelly’

This article – the first of three - represents some early conclusions from an on-going investigation into a Manx musical and cultural phenomenon: the rise of the Kelly songs. A second article will look at the music hall Kelly songs popularised by Florrie Forde and others; a final article will offer a brief survey of the large number of popular songs about the Isle of Man, excluding the well-known traditional Manx songs that appear in Manx National Songs and elsewhere, about which there is already a comprehensive literature.

Firstly, however, the identity of the popular figure who would become known as ‘Kelly from the Isle of Man’, must be established if possible. Was he a well-known local person, or, because the name Kelly was common on the Island, was he a mythical character of popular culture, the archetypical Manxman, the subject of music hall songs and the butt of countless jokes as indeed are ‘Paddy’ and ‘Jock’ today? Was he in fact a Manxman at all? And how did the call of ‘Hi! Kelly’ come into being as a local way of hailing a carriage or other conveyance, and why did it become so familiar and popular with visitors to the Island.

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READ THE FULL ARTICLE by Maurice Powell 2017

 

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