Teribus, I think you are referring to the highland Scots. The Lowland Scots, I believe, were originally from the Britain, no?

At the risk of being pedantic, wouldn't you use the term "Ulster Scots" to refer to the Scots living in Scotland that claim Ulster as the home of their ancestors? And wouldn't the proper term for the folks living in Ulster to be "Ulster Irish"? Before you correct me, please understand that I am fully aware of the political nature of my comment, and am not being naive. I certainly don't have a problem with folks using whatever construct they choose among themselves to create an identity. We Irish Americans do it all the time. But the term "Ulster Scots" seems to me to be an attempt to reconstruct history and deny the essential Irishness of the people. There is one among us here on the Mudcat that is from Ulster and whose family is what would be described as "Orange". I asked this person a simple question a long time ago. "What do you consider yourself?" The answer without hesitation was "Irish". That is good enough for me. While I may not like the history involved, the fact is that this persons people have lived in Ireland for 400+ years. They are Irish. No matter whatever else they use to identify themselves, they are Irish. But I hear many folks that use the term "Ulster Scots" use it to a political end to lend legitimacy to the claim that Ulster is not the north of Ireland. It seems to me that Annraoi really hit it on the head when he expressed the feeling that the music was being used to further divide folks and redefine what is essentially Scottish and Irish traditional music.

Help me to understand this. I enjoy the music that I have listened to, but it is really the music I have listened to, played, and enjoyed all my life. Let us have a civil discussion of this with those among you who disagree with my comments giving me historical data to refute it.

All the best.......really,

Mick