Nigel Gatherer writes: | John Chambers wrote: | > ...New England contra-dance musicians (who consider it Irish)... | | So, for that matter, do Irish musicians. Even if it were Nathaniel | Gow's composition it, along with hundreds of Scots-origin tunes, can be | regarded as Irish because it has been absorbed into that tradition. It | doesn't exactly work the other way around. Take a tune like "The Rakes | of Mallow" which is obviously an Irish tune in origin (Mallow is a town | in County Cork): it has been played for centuries in Scotland and is | part of our traditional repertoire, but would we call it a Scottish | tune? | | Consider this can of worms opened (are you ready, Ted?).
Well, I wouldn't consider it a can of worms at all. They're just following one of the oldest and most universal musical traditions: If you hear a good tune, steal it. After a generation or two, your people will consider it one of their traditional tunes. And it will be. Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
