Peter Carr: Two Films

In the mid-1970s, filmmaker Peter Carr made two documentaries for British television about bands on tour in Ireland (respectively, the Republic of Ireland-based showband Nevada and the American soul group, The Realistics). Commissioned at a time when the Troubles were synonymous with Ireland for viewers in Britain, both films reflect this wider context in different ways. Filmed in a distinctive verité style that reveals much about the social, cultural, and political forces that shaped the performance and business practices of musicians in both Northern Ireland and the Republic, these films are valuable for their realism and their unpatronizing look at commercial music making in Ireland.