Oh, and to clarify my "question" further (hopefully, I appreciate your indulgence, it's late and I do make mistakes, don't we all):

I'm also interested in the "oral tradition", which was in the original subject. I'll look into Cape Breton. For instance, are there song-circles where people practice singing in the original language from any of these "Celtic" (please bear with me) cultures?

In my humble-and-often-errant hypothesizing opinion, the oral tradition is where all of this "traditional" music comes from, since it was probably often sung by people in the countryside and passed down as such, and maybe not originally played on any instrument (except possibly a whistle or whatever was available, which might not always have been much - I'm talking a long long time ago, when some of the oldest songs we know of originated). So, in this sense the "oral tradition" constitutes the "core" or origin of all of this traditional music and tunes. That's why I think it might be interesting and important to look at that and explore it a bit.

If you disagree or have a correction, I am very happy to hear it and learn from you as long as it's polite and you actually have read my ramblings.

thanks and best,
G