One of Ireland's most compelling gifts to the world is its music. Deliberately, inadvertently, unquenchably, the music, like the people, traveled. They went to America as eager immigrants, such as the Irish Quakers who settled in Pennsylvania, and as unwilling prisoners, like the many Irish Tories remanded to Virginia in the late 17th century. The music they brought with them famously infused America's nascent musical voice as the young country climbed on its shaky legs and learned to dance. No household, it seemed, was without a copy of "Moore's Irish Melodies," although scores of other Irish collections became nearly as popular.
Not just America:
That influence spread throughout the English-speaking world, mixing into the music of such diverse areas as Cape Breton and the Orkney Islands. And, not surprisingly, what with all the conquest-happy traffic in and around Ireland over the centuries, the music has spread even further.
- Byron A. Nilsson