Back in the 60s/70s, Irish migrant workers in England got together in pubs in the larger cities and played their music together. And they were most welcoming to others who wanted to join in, at a time when instrumental competence was generally frowned on in the English folk scene. Combine that with a much smaller Scots community, and the general pub- unfriendliness of GBH pipes, and that Scottish music and dance was "showcased" by atrocities such as the White Heather Club on TV.

Scottish song fared better, having a reasonable airing from the likes of Robin Hall and Jimmy McGregor, the Hootenanny TV program and stuff like that.

And of course the fact that more recently many people don't realise that Alba exists, and the music is great when the budget allows it and it's not shoved aside by East Fife v Stranraer in the fog. By the time bands like Ossian were around, folk had generally disappeared from mainstream media and become ghettoised as a minority interest at listener- unfriendly hours on radio.