The "nationality" of a song usually refers to its country of origin.

However, in my Honors English class we're studying a literary "device" called local color, which refers to regionalist literature, especially in America. Local color literature (most notably that of Mark Twain) is usually a realistic portrayal of the customs, society, and culture of a certain area, such as the deep south or the old west or New England. Even the dialects of the people of each region were realistically portrayed, including slang and many of the same idiosynchrosies that still exist in modern dialects.

This same concept can be applied to a lot of traditional folk music. Many of the songs of Ireland and Scotland were written and sung in dialect--actually this includes folk music from all of what as now the UK and Ireland. "Cam Ye O'er Frae France" is a perfect example of a song that is written in dialect and remains so, but other songs have been modernized and changed over the years (centuries!) until that local color has been lost.

You must remember that this is folk music. Much of it was probably written by peasants and passed around by word of mouth. Many of the people who probably sang these songs were probably only partially literate. Also, since folk music is a reflection of a certain culture, why not recognize that culture?

Traditional folk music teaches us a lot about history, and the feelings of the "common" people. The body of music that is political ir just rebellious is amazing. In a way, the music that we call traditional is the same as the music of bands like the Doors or even Metallica (think "Master of Puppets"). Maybe 500 years from now that will be considered traditional music and the names Jim Morrison and James Hetfield will be forgotten and only the music will remain as a record of our times.

Peace-- Keli