ABSTRACT
Part of the complexity of writing about Scottish traditional music and Scottish social life is that it is intertwined in very thick strands with British history, making both political and personal identity complex. The politics of Scottish traditional music have almost always been a mix of egalitarianism, outward-facing nationalism and various brands of Protestant socialism. The folk revival in Britain and Ireland was initially a political movement that gradually attracted more followers not just through the countercultural revivalist spirit, but also simply because of the aesthetic enjoyment of traditional music. Protest songs are a form of overtly political song that actively narrate opposition to a particular perceived injustice. In Scottish music, protest songs have been around for a very long time and usually perform a sense of opposition and injustice to London-centric United Kingdom (UK) policies, nuclear weapons or social policies that have detrimental consequences for ordinary Scots.
