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The Journal of New York Folklore was published 1975-1999. Back issues are still available.  The New York Folklore Quarterly was published 1946-1974. Back issues are still available. New York Folklore Society P.O. Box 764 Schenectady, NY 12301 518/346-7008 Fax 518/346-6617 nyfs@nyfolklore.org |
NEW YORK FOLKLORE PUBLICATIONS | VOICES | BACK ISSUES | FOLKLORE IN ARCHIVES | FOLK ARTISTS SELF-MGT | ORDER PUBLICATIONS | SEARCH CHERISH THE LADIES The Background: Irish Traditional Music in America Irish traditional music has endured a long and often difficult, lifetime in the United States. Brought to this country’s urban industrial centers by Irish immigrants in the 19th and 20th centuries, traditional Irish music has developed a unique character in America, and has in turn exerted a profound effect on the music in Ireland itself. The traditional music, typically played on instruments such as the fiddle, accordion, concertina, flute, tin whistle, uilleann pipes, tenor banjo, and piano, dates back several centuries, and draws on an enormous repertoire from both Ireland and America. Much of this music—hornpipes, jigs, reels, and other dance pieces—was composed by musicians in Ireland in the 18th and 19th centuries, though a considerable number of tunes date from an earlier time, extending back as far as the early 17th century. In various regions in Ireland, polkas and mazurkas proliferate, and at one time marches, schottisches and barn dances were also popular, although these are rarely played nowadays. Beautifully expressive slow airs, normally played in free meter, form an important part of the national repertoire, as do the stately baroque-like compositions of the 17th and 18th century harpers. By the dawn of the recording era in the early part of this century, traditional Irish music had already achieved widespread popularity in America, particularly in the Northeast and North Central U.S. In 1913 Columbia Records issued the first American recordings of traditional music played by Irish musicians. At the time, Irish communities clearly felt the need for such material. Musicians who were popular in Irish neighborhoods found a large and eager market through the recording industry. The 1920s and 1930s saw the issuing of hundreds of traditional instrumental recordings by major and minor record companies. The era was perhaps most notable for the landmark recordings of the great trio of County Sligo fiddlers, James Morrison, Paddy Killoran and Michael Coleman. Their recordings, as well as those of their contemporaries, such as fiddler Paddy Sweeney, piper Tom Ennis, flutists John McKenna and Tom Morrison, and Dan Sullivan’s Shamrock Band in Boston had a profound influence on traditional music on both sides of the Atlantic. They helped maintain and expand repertoires and created stylistic models that were emulated faithfully by new generations of musicians. ...
 BACK TO NEW YORK FOLKLORE, Vol. 25, No. 1-4 — Table of Contents.NOTE: The New York Folklore Society Newsletter and New York Folklore Journal were replaced by Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore which debuted in December, 2000. Membership in NYFS includes a subscription to Voices: The Journal of New York Folklore. HOME | ABOUT NYFS | PROGRAMS & SERVICES | MUSIC | PUBLICATIONS | RESOURCES | CALENDAR | WHAT’S FOLKLORE? | MEMBERSHIP | GALLERY | SHOP | SEARCH | CONTACT US © 2012, 2011, 2010 New York Folklore Society |
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