I was browsing through a book on Southern Appalacian music. They were talking about minstrel shows as one of the great music movements of the 1800's. The core of minstrelsy was the string band, usually fiddle and banjo. The book said some minstrel shows travelled over seas. In traveling through Ireland they initiated the beginning of the ceili movement in Ireland. The book suggested that when musicologists encountered similar songs in Ireland and Appalacia they at times thought songs had moved from Ireland to the mountains, when in fact, due to the movement of minstrel shows, the songs had moved from the mountains to Ireland.

I was flabbergasted as I had never heard of any of this. It would explain the presence of the banjo in much of Irish music. Does anyone have more information about this. I can obtain the book in a week and provide some more definitive quotes.

Roger in Baltimore