Hostname: page-component-6dbcb7884d-4kfsg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-14T05:11:37.565Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Wheels of the World: How Recordings of Irish Traditional Music Bridged the Gap between Homeland and Diaspora

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 October 2010

SCOTT SPENCER
SCOTT SPENCER*
Affiliation:
scott.spencer@nyu.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

At the dawn of the twentieth century and the height of the Recording Age, Irish American musicians began to record Irish traditional music on both commercial and subcommercial recordings. Circulated within the diaspora during a changing sense of Irish identity and sent home to a nationalist revival, these recordings had a profound impact on both traditional performance practices and modes of transmission. Quickly accepted by many at the heart of the tradition, these recordings were used by practitioners to bridge vast geographic distances and solidify vital lines of communication, allowing the diaspora to engage actively with the larger tradition.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Society for American Music , Volume 4 , Special Issue 4: Irish Music in the United States , November 2010 , pp. 437 - 449
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Music 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bradshaw, Harry. “Michael Coleman.” In The Companion to Traditional Irish Music, ed. Vallely, Fintan, 75. Cork: Cork University Press, 1999.Google Scholar
Bradshaw, Harry, and Small, Jackie. “Leitrim's Master of the Concert Flute.” Musical Traditions Magazine 7 (1987): 9–14.Google Scholar
Conlon, Peter J. “The Wind That Shakes the Barley” and “The Humors of the Whiskey.” Columbia E3896. Recorded November 1917.Google Scholar
Engle, Tony, and Hall, Reg. Liner notes to James Morrison and Tom Ennis. Topic Records 127390, 1980.Google Scholar
Ennis, Tom. “Murphy's Hornpipe, Londonderry Clog, MacNamara Hornpipe.” Victor 18366. Recorded 17 April 1917.Google Scholar
Ennis, Tom. “Three Little Drummers, Connaughtman's Rambles, The Joy of My Life, Nancy Hynes, Kerrigan's Jig.” Victor 18286. Recorded 17 April 1917.Google Scholar
Gedutis, Susan. See You at the Hall: Boston's Golden Era of Irish Music and Dance. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 2004.Google Scholar
Greene, Victor. A Passion for Polka: Old-Time Ethnic Music in America. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gronow, Pekka. “The Record Industry: The Growth of a Mass Medium.” Popular Music 3 (1983): 53–75.Google Scholar
Hernborn, Edward, and Wheeler, James. “The Maid Behind the Bar-Reel” and “The Rambler's Jig.”Columbia A2147. Recorded 15 September 1916.Google Scholar
The Irish World, 18 May 1901.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Pat, and Small, Jackie. The Piping of Patsy Touhey. Dublin: Na Píobairí Uilleann, 1986.Google Scholar
Moloney, Mick. “Irish Ethnic Recordings and the Irish-American Imagination.” In Ethnic Recordings in America: A Neglected Heritage, ed. Spottswood, Richard, 85–102. Washington, D.C.: American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, 1982.Google Scholar
Moloney, Mick. “Irish Music in America: Continuity and Change.” Ph.D. diss., University of Pennsylvania, 1992.Google Scholar
Ní Fuartháin, Méabh. “O'Byrne DeWitt and Copley Records: A Window on Irish Music Recording in the U.S.A., 1900 to 1965.” M.A. thesis, University College Cork, National University of Ireland, 1993.Google Scholar
Payer, Hollis. “Irish Fiddler James Kelly: A Matter of Tradition.” Fiddler Magazine 4/4 (Winter 1997/1998): 21–29.Google Scholar
Spencer, Scott. “Early Irish-American Recordings and Atlantic Musical Migrations.” In The Irish in the Atlantic World, ed. Gleeson, David, 53–75. Charleston: University of South Carolina Press, 2010.Google Scholar
Spottswood, Richard, and Varlet, Philippe. Liner notes to From Galway to Dublin: Early Recordings of Traditional Irish Music. Rounder Records 1087, 1993.Google Scholar
Talking Machine World (1926).Google Scholar
Trew, Johanne. “Treasures from the Attic: Viva Voce Records.” Journal of American Folklore 113/449 (Summer 2000): 305–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar