ABSTRACT
The 1990s marked the first time in over a century that the Irish population saw steady increases, together with an influx of Irish people returning, rather than leaving (Dezell 2000: 208). The tide of emigration turned when the Irish economy awakened from its long dormancy; it coincided with several other sociohistorical factors that began to bring Irish people home. Prior to the current period, the Irish were having enough children to triple the population, yet with such large families in economic difficulty, most of the children would emigrate to England, Scotland, or North America rather than staying home. The typical Irish family of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, therefore, was stretched across the globe; this phenomenon extended Irishness, and the reach of Irish musical culture, across the globe as well. As part of the process of exploring traditional music in Ireland and related musics in nearby countries, this chapter examines Irish musical culture abroad, particularly in North America. The enduring ties of Ireland and Irish North America were initiated as family ties, and have continued as economic, cultural, and musical ties up to the present.
