> we also know Irish emigrants to the USA during the 1920s (and possibly > earlier) picked up > the US banjo and used it in much the same rather idiomatic way. Was > that > something they thought of after crossing the pond or was it an > adaptation of traditions from their home country to a new environment?
Italian mandolinists in the US started using the banjo, too, because it was louder or projected more. > in the Irish, where the bouzouki is more prevalent Now, lad, just what would ya be meanin' by dat? Seriously, I'd like to know what you think the difference is - scale length? number of courses? flat back vs. round? All that stuff about Sobel I would take with a grain of salt, too. I pinned him down about it once but don't feel it's appropriate to go into that here. The use of these instruments in folk/pop groups in ireland goes back to the 60s at least - at least that's as far back as I've been able to find them. Mandolas and such had a sweeter sound than banjo or mandolin - not so sharp and biting and maybe more suitable for accompaniment than even a guitar. They certainly looked cool. I've been thinking about what Brad was saying about Irish music being peasant music, more or less. I don't know about that; it seems a bit lopsided. Also, Brad, would you be saying that a guittar cost more than a fiddle or flute, or would Irish music only be songs and mouth music? And how much would a harp or set of pipes cost? I tend to see things in big pictures and maybe miss some details, but for me, "Irish music", like citterns, isn't just one thing. Also, I wouldn't say something had less value only because it came from one class and not another - I know Brad doesn't intend to say that either, but bringing class into it does fog things up a bit. As to what Frank was saying about the long history of plucked strings in dance music, it's just a fact that shouldn't be overlooked - lute, guitar, cittern, mandora were used to play all sorts of music by all sorts of people. History being what it was (there he goes bringing class into it again), our present knowledge of what went on is limited to what and whom historians thought was important or noteworthy, decisions often based in large part on their own experience. This is often my main complaint about the articles in Grove, for example. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
