Mrzy, there was an interesting programme on UKTV just recently (a repeat) about the rise of Irish folk music in its various forms from the pre-republic days to the present. It seems that in Ireland the Clancys were, to some extent, tarred with the "auld Ireland" brush - an Ireland dominated by the priesthood, by old-fashioned values - and yet they were not true "folk" in the sense of performing tunes of pipes and fiddles in the old, traditional way. The Dubliners, by contrast, were rougher, more rebellious, more "of the people" - less "establishment", perhaps.

No value judgements from me here, by the way - just commenting on what came across to me in the programme. And then there came The Pogues...!