ABSTRACT
Despite the extraordinary success of the peace process, Northern Ireland remains a divided country in which traditional culture in all its manifestations is still widely used as a marker of religious affiliation and ethnic identity. This chapter moves to song and text, and the various streams that contribute to the heterogeneous repertoire of traditional music in Northern Ireland. If Ireland was a melting pot in microcosm, then surely the United States of America takes this to the macrocosmic level. The story of Irish America has often been told in terms of post-Famine Catholic immigration, whose political influence came to particular international prominence through the country's only Catholic president thus far, John F. Kennedy, perhaps the most famous and charismatic member of the Kennedy family. Depending on the background of the commentator, the geographical area may be described using one of many names including Northern Ireland, the North of the Island of Ireland, the six counties, the Province or Ulster.
