Oh well, the Irish are to blame and the Scots are not gettin off either LOL.

Seriously can any one tell me what if any difference there is - besides the accent - between an Irish, Scottish, English or Welsh or what ever, Smith ?

Now that I have raised the obvious question, ie the mingling of the races of Britian for over a 1000 years, what would the difference be if Conelly was born in Cardiff or Edinburgh or Dublin? None I suspect.

Being IRISH scot I know only too well all about the Football rivalry and such, can it be we are applying the same rules to Folk Music?

Sure there are songs with claimed National origins, but again what does that prove? I have written a few things and witnessed them being tore apart and rehashed into other weak songs by wannabe songwriters. So nothing can sway me toward a National origin most of the time since the writer could have taken the entire song from where ever.

Nor do I not buy the assertion that a Song is Xish because it was published in Xville in 1423 and 1/2.

The Derry Air, well so what. I am fair sure if I poked around in Piping circles I would find many a Theme that is similar and probably not even British at all as well as being at least 10 thousand years older LOL.

Lyrics and Irish folk bands, I sure do agree they know how to do em well. These stories about songs comming from Americas make me howl. It is like Jay Ungar and OCarrolan, his compositions are just variations etc, but Turloch probably variated what he heard. I guess that is all there is to it.

Antrim and the Scots, well I am learning something new everyday. I always thought the Scoti invaded Ireland first then a while later the Mainland.

Nah Pict I don't buy the Antrim bit, besides there are Mc Donalds AND Cambells all over the South of the Island.