ABSTRACT
Emigration has been a feature of Irish society since before the Christian era (c. AD 30). 1 Consequently, numerous Irish communities have evolved worldwide, with the main centres of settlement emerging in Britain, the United States of America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. According to Piaras Mac Énraí of the Irish Centre for Migration Studies (University College Cork), over 70 million people worldwide refer to themselves as being Irish or of Irish descent (https://www.migration.ucc.ie" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">www.migration.ucc.ie). The global figure becomes even more significant when we relate it to a local population of five million, thus realizing a ratio between home and away of 1:14. Emigration led not only to the scattering of Irish people worldwide, but also to the dissemination of Irish culture and identity. This chapter examines the ways in which the Irish diaspora attempted to mediate the transnational space between home and away through traditional song performance within the context of Newfoundland. It also considers the use of traditional song performance to construct and maintain distinct identities in host countries.
