# Music by Genre > Celtic, U.K., Nordic, Quebecois, European Folk >  How many 'Celtic' players aren't?

## Tim2723

I mean, do you play Irish or Scottish or other 'Celtic' music without any such heritage?  I play Irish folk and both sides of my family are Dutch.  I'm as Irish as a wooden shoe.

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## Bertram Henze

+1
German as far as I can trace anything back (which is not very far), but I don't really care. 
The ITM genetic sequence has not been discovered yet. It is a soul thing. Whoever can feel the music and can let others feel it, too, is authentic.

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## Randi Gormley

Russian/Ukrainian, Hungarian and Latvian here. I can hide out, though, because my husband's last name sounds Irish. There is actually some Irish in his background, although it's mostly German, with a smattering of Scotch-Irish and English.

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## BlueMt.

About the only thing missing from my mutt pedigree, is any Irish or Scottish heritage.  I do hunt with a Gordon Setter to give credibility to my "Celtic" playing.  :Wink:

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## rgray

Despite my Cafe ID here, I have to say that I do have Irish/English ancestry on my dad's side which gives me a link to music I do love.  I respect my Native American heritage but just can't get into sitting around listening to a drum and flutes.

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## Jim MacDaniel

I'll wager that more people have Irish or Scottish blood running in their veins than who currently self-identify as Irish or Scottish, at least in countries to where the Irish and Scots commonly emmigrated over the past few centuries. To my point in a round about way, though my family has traditionally self-identified as Scot-Irish, and though we have roots in 19th century Galway via my paternal grandmother's family -- based upon where many of our people were in the 1700's (Pennsylvania), 1800's (Kentucky), and 1900's (Indiana), odds are that I have a large amount of _non_-Celtic blood running through mine as well (e.g., German, English, French). 

That also begs the question as to what does it mean to be Irish, Scottish, or any other nationality for that matter. Is simply self-identifying as such adequate, is having genealogical proof a prerequisite, or it is deeper than that, such as being brought up in a family that has kept the old traditions alive, generation after generation, regardless of where they now reside? My family qualifies by the former two criteria, but certainly not by the latter. It is only in my generation of the MacDaniels where a few of us have started to explore our Irish and Scottish roots, esp. through music, travel, and reading.

As a aside, based upon the state of my people at the time, we can't really be for sure just what our name is anyway, let alone where it originated. Since they were illiterate, they were dependent upon the oral tradition, as well as upon others' for recording our history for quite a while. Our family oral tradition broke down sometime between then and now, so my Dad and his brother had to rely solely upon public records in their genealogical research. They found our name spelled as McDaniel, McDonald, Macdonald, and as other common variants, most likely because the county clerks hard a hard time understanding our people's accents as they were asked to sign their X. It only took on its current spelling in the early 1900's, when my great great Uncle, a business man in Indianapolis, changed the spelling from Mc to Mac to put his business' name at the top of the Mac's & Mc's in the phone book -- lol

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## steve V. johnson

There was a time, not long ago, just a few decades, in which Irish heritage was the largest single ethnic-origin group in the U.S.

I was making up a list of players last week and I noticed that quite a few of the folks I knew who play Irish & Scottish trad musics actually have names from those groups.  I had presumed that most of the folks with whom I play (and whom I know who play) in 
the US are not of Irish heritage.  (I am not, my wife is not, and of my primary playing friends [~20 people] only three or four are.)

But in my list the names came to over half the number.  Day by day, very few of those are actively engaged with 'being Irish (Scots, etc.),' in the sense of identity and participating in organizations and such, tho they are very engaged with the musical 
tradition in serious ways.  (That is, not 19th-century drinking & sentimental songs from the music hall traditions.)

Interesting...   We've only been to Ireland in the off-seasons, Febr - April, and the number of trad players was legion, but still 
dwarfed by the mainstream pop afficionados, as in any contemporary media culture.  When one contrasts the number of trad 
players who playin the off-season (for themselves, as a matter of course) with the number of people who visit Ireland in the 
'high season' (and year round, too) -just- to play Irish trad music, the view of the widespread and wild popularity of the form
is pretty amazing.

Thanks,

stv

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## Steve-o

Irish (with a wee bit of Scotch) and German heritage here.  Red hair and freckles too.

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## Dan Hulse

I frequently get asked that question when playing out. My standard reply has become that I've been adopted, but in fact I am what dog lovers refer to as an "American breed". Bohemian, Polish, German, Dutch, English, possibly Russian/Arab & who knows what else. We play Irish folk/rock & Americana. Our Fiddle player is Slovenian.

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## Dan Hulse

Incidently, I have never been to Ireland but I plan to find the time.

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## Bertram Henze

> Red hair and freckles too.


It must be mentioned that this is a Scandinavian feature brought to the British isles by the Vikings (around 800 to 1200 A.D.). Original Celts have black hair (and sometimes bright blue eyes, which combination is especially weird). But then there's been so much mixing of genes around the Atlantic, that the definition of what is really Celtic is open to heated discussion.

At least, I have green eyes - does that count?




> Incidently, I have never been to Ireland but I plan to find the time.


You definitely should. Not everything is green there.  :Grin:

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## walt33

I play mostly Québecois and some Irish music. There is some European French in me, and possibly some Scottish (if Colburn is a Scottish name). Probably more German than anything.

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## Loretta Callahan

They say the Celts originated in an area somewhere in Southern Germany.  It's obvious, by looking at my very Irish Father, that big, blonde Vikings were hiding in the woodshed somewhere.  My Mom, very Scots, had curly blonde hair and sky blue eyes.  

 One night at Berkeley's Starry Plough pub, they played a Norwegian tune.  It sounded Scots/Irish to my unskilled ears ... and the musicians walked on top of the chairs as they played.  It was very awesome.

  All I really know is that the first time I heard a fiddle playing a jig, my DNA lit up like a Christmas tree.

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## John Kelly

Scottish on both sides of my family, a mix of lowland and full-blooded highland ancestry but my birthplace in Kintyre in Argyll, Scotland, is only about 14 miles from the coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, and traditionally where St Columba first landed when he left Ireland and finally settled in Iona. My surname is Irish (Kelly) but on mother's side my family are Fergusons and Camerons (of Locheil and Native Gaelic speakers, a talent I have not inherited).  Oh, and proud of it all, too.  As Loretta says, hearing the music stirs something in the innards.  :Wink:

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## Nonprophet

My Mother's maiden name is Maloney--I always though we were Polish?!?! lol


NP

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## JeffD

And how many Irish, nowadays, grow up with traditional music? Compared to the regular rounds of pop music and commercial stuff everyone is exposed to?


I don't want to imagine how horrible it would be if we were only allowed to play music we grew up with.

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## Jim MacDaniel

> ...I don't want to imagine how horrible it would be if we were only allowed to play music we grew up with.


Especially if we only listened to music the recording industry said we should listen to.  :Frown:

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## Paul Kotapish

50% Bohemian / 25% Scottish / 25% Mutt.

For me, the drive to play Irish tunes had very little to do with Ireland or Irish culture. It was all about the sound.

I was taught by Irish nuns, but if they were interested in jigs and reels, they didn't share their enthusiasm. And although there was some bluegrass and old-time music around where I grew up, I didn't pay much attention to any of that stuff until I was in college. When I got into that music in the early '70s, it was an interest in fiddle tunes, in particular, that opened my ears to other traditions.

In much of the U.S., it seems, blood lineage and cultural heritage aren't necessarily linked, and culinary heritage seems to have a much more staying power than music or dance in most families or even in regional communities. We still bake Bohemian pastries and love our sausages and beer, but the only polkas you're likely to hear are from Kerry.

It was a cliche on the west coast some decades back that aside from Joe Cooley and Kevin Keegan, everyone playing Irish music out here was Jewish. Like all cliches, there was a kernal of truth to the statement. I've had the privilege to play with some of the greats of Irish tradition music, but over the years I've probably played as many tunes with folks whose families hailed from Russia or Poland as those from Ireland or Scotland.

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## Steve-o

> All I really know is that the first time I heard a fiddle playing a jig, my DNA lit up like a Christmas tree.


 :Laughing:   Great line Loretta.  I can relate!

Tim started this thread by (ostensibly) taking a straw poll to satisfy a curiosity about musical influences and heritage.  Ive enjoyed the responses so far and doubt anyone here is surprised by the variety of cultural/ethnic backgrounds that we musicians bring to the Celtic melting pot.  I think it also is a wonderful testament to the infectiousness of the music.

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## Loretta Callahan

> I don't want to imagine how horrible it would be if we were only allowed to play music we grew up with.


Groan ... I loved my folks, but they listened to the most wretched pop music drek ever.  Instead of Sinatra and Big Band music, they listened to light opera and Gale Storm.  My Mom managed to turn me on to some ballads handed down through her family, and those are the only ones I still like.

Hahaha ... that's hilarious!




> My Mother's maiden name is Maloney--I always though we were Polish?!?! lol
> NP


Yup, that Celtic/ITM music is very infectious, indeed, Steve-O!

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## John Flynn

75% Irish, 25% British, a formula for internal conflict if there ever was one!

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## Jock

> It must be mentioned that this is a Scandinavian feature brought to the British isles by the Vikings (around 800 to 1200 A.D.). Original Celts have black hair (and sometimes bright blue eyes, which combination is especially weird). But then there's been so much mixing of genes around the Atlantic, that the definition of what is really Celtic is open to heated discussion.
> 
> At least, I have green eyes - does that count?
> 
> 
> 
> You definitely should. Not everything is green there.


Bertram, I'd have to quote Cesar to you when he mentions that many of the ancient british tribes were red headed. Also a huge percentage of the modern british & irish populations have the "ginger" gene where as only a relatively small percentage have norse genes. But as you mention there has been a lot of mixing and it's likely that at least some of the red hair comes to scandinavia and the baltic basin via the viking slave trade which accounted for 95% of their business.

Celtic isn't a word I'd use to describe anybody I know from any of the so called "celtic" places or their music. As with so many labels, they were coined by others and not the names used by the natives to describe themselves. The only celtics I know are a soccer team  :Laughing: 

There's a lot of Irish on my mothers side but I'm scots. I don't think it matters where your from regarding music because the more you get into it the more of the detail you absorb. Very many of the so called natives know squat about their own native music traditions. 

As a youth I was mad keen on bluegrass, and funnily enough, the first time I met Dagger Gordon was around 24 or 25 years ago when he and his pals gave me a lift whilst I was hitching to a wedding. They were going to play for the same wedding. The music playing in the car when I got in was Roland White's "Tell me Baby", I think they were quite surprised when I started singing along. At that time I played bluegrass with my pal Iain, but it wasn't long before I started sliding down the slippery trad slope due to a shortage of highland bluegrassers, otherwise things may have turned out quite differently for me.

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## Bertram Henze

> They say the Celts originated in an area somewhere in Southern Germany.


If that is true, then I have a little chance of left-over DNA traces, because that's where I grew up, too.




> All I really know is that the first time I heard a fiddle playing a jig, my DNA lit up like a Christmas tree.


+1
I never heard it put in better words.




> 75% Irish, 25% British, a formula for internal conflict if there ever was one!


Interestingly, "Britain" is a word said to be originating in Greece, meaning "painted people" and depicting Celts. All Celtic Britain including Erin called itself Britain until the Saxons and others came and adopted the name, thus changing its meaning.




> Bertram, I'd have to quote Cesar to you when he mentions that many of the ancient british tribes were red headed.


Caesar said that? Oops, should have paid more attention in Latin class. It is plausible then that the stream of red went north, not south - I stand corrected. The Vikings were that good at streams of red that this option never occurred to me.  :Redface: 

Still, the most abundant type I encountered in Ireland was like this:

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## Jock

Bertram, I remember the 1980's when Ch4 started broadcasting a few Hurly matches and being struck by the fact that; in one game one side were all black haired like your man above, and the other team were all red heads, to a man. 

The theory regarding the term british originating in greece is quite correct but was revised once historians started looking to our indigenous literature only to discover that the ancient britons had actually termed themselves "pritannie" suggesting the greeks got their spelling wrong. Being a literate society the greek spelling stuck. The greeks were the first to name the islands in literature as the "Britannic Islands" consisting of Britannia Major (British mainland) and Britannia Minor (Ireland), and no, their not chords, thought to date from a greek geographer who sailed there around 400BC. The book is lost but so many other ancient geographers quoted him that much of the work survives in their works.

It was also the greeks that rendered the collective noun for the tribes to the north of them as "celts". Them greeks have a lot to answer for, but I guess we should cut them some slack as they had a hand in giving us the ancestor of the modern mandolin! Otherwise this place could well have turned out as the Oodcafe or Balalaikarestaurant perhaps :D

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## Bertram Henze

> Them greeks have a lot to answer for, but I guess we should cut them some slack as they had a hand in giving us the ancestor of the modern mandolin!


Plus, the ancestors of our modern CBOM instruments - some of these ancestors survive until today, massed together here:



Try and argue about truss rod adjustment with those  :Wink:

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## whistler

I'm Polish/Lithuanian/Ukrainian/German Jewish with a bit of N. German Protestant thrown in.  I grew up in ('Germanic') England, although I now live in ('Celtic') Wales.

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## danb

German/French/English in my family tree..

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## Shelagh Moore

Irish and living in Scotland here. I grew up playing ITM and still do, plus Scottish and other "celtic" music, but my interest now is Old Time and Appalachian so a little bit the other way round for me!

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## Fred G

Irish/Scottish/German/French(dads side) English(moms side) here....One thing I was thinking about recently was that my ancestors came here early, around the revolution and were not city dwellers where people stayed within their own community. Mine were coal miners and farmers in Pennsylvania and obviously did not have a "marry your own kind" doctrine. Although on my mom's side, that did seem to be the case.

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## Avi Ziv

I am Jewish and Israeli and crazy about this music. It's a curiosity to some who play with me but not in a bad way.

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## Bruce Evans

I am an American. No, not native American as the term is currently used, but my lineage has been traced back to early american colonists. That and a penny will get me a ride on the supermarket pony. 

My family name is Evans. That is Welsh in origin. Wales is a Celtic nation. Does that make me Celtic? My mothers maiden name was Hartung, which is German in origin. Extrapolating the lineage on the female side of my ancestry produces Scot and English names galore. 

I am an American. I don't play Irish music because I am Irish. I play Irish music because I am a musician.

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## steve V. johnson

> And how many Irish, nowadays, grow up with traditional music? Compared to the regular rounds of pop music and commercial stuff everyone is exposed to?.


In many parts of Ireland kids in the schools start on whistle at early ages and are brought up in the traditional music.  When they're familiar with the various forms of the music they can choose their next instrument.  In the Gaeltacht areas, where Irish is the first language, the national government supports language and traditional arts instruction early in the school programs, and there are other parts of the country which aren't officially Gaeltacht areas, in which Irish is widely spoken and which value traditional arts and keep them in their schools.  We found places like the latter in the rural southwest.

We've been told that thru the '70's there was quite a backlash against trad music, as many folks in the cities felt that it was backward and 'country.'  As many as fifteen million tourists visit Ireland between May and October each year, and traditional music is a significant attraction during that time.  But even better (IMO), trad music accounts for a bigger portion of the folks who visit Ireland in the off-season, when players aren't hired to run sessions for tourists in the cutest pubs, but play where, when, and how they do anyway.

I'm sure that music education goes far beyond just the tradition in Irish schools, too, and we've heard some splendidly original contemporary music there as well.

Ethnically my wife and I are true American mongrels, and my lineage is legally obscured by my adoption (at birth).  On our second trip to Ireland EVERYBODY, everywhere we went, would ask us, 
"So, are you lookin' for your people here in Ireland?"  We thought someone was calling ahead to make sure the next folks would ask us...  Our reply was, 'No, we're just here to learn the music,' 
and on the last day of our visit, finally, no one asked us, the only day w/o the inquiry.  It was a real hoot.  We just love the music, is all.

stv

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## sgarrity

My name is Shaun Garrity........need I say more?   LOL  My Great-Grandparents were straight off the boat.

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## Jill McAuley

I'm half Irish, half Korean. Grew up playing punk music because, like a fair amount of Dubs, I thought trad music was for country folk aka culchies. Got into trad in a big way after moving to East Galway in '02. My ma is tone deaf, though my gran was renowned for her singing voice. My da, who's from Korea, plays the ukelele and loves Johnny Cash, '50's music and the Beach Boys!

Cheers,
Jill

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## EdSherry

I'm 3/4 Irish, 1/4 Scots.   I didn't grow up listening to the music; I came to it in a roundabout way, via folk and then bluegrass.  I knoew a bunch of Clancy Brothers songs before I ever got into instrumental ITM.

While some of the folks at the sessions I play at are of Irish/Celtic ancestry, many are not.

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## NickAlberty

Italian and Cherokee here. Maybe in some weird way the Italian is why I play mandolin.
Who know.......?

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## JeffD

My genetic inheritance is irrelevant, except in how it limits my ultimate musical ability.  :Smile:

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## Loretta Callahan

Hey, Bertram, I didn't make the the "greek quote", it was Jock.  I really know nothing about Greek or any other kid of European music.  American music, yes, I know a few things.  

 Maybe the music we all seem to enjoy so much around here just traveled to the British Isles and took up residence there, figuring the locals would know how to take care of it ... who knows? :Wink:

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## chriss

> 75% Irish, 25% British, a formula for internal conflict if there ever was one!


As bad or worse here...  my dad was 100% pure-bred English, mom was Irish-Scottish  :Disbelief: 
If that ain't a setup for fireworks ... don't get much better.

But the music is infectiously beautiful and joyful so let's have at it.

I also LOVE Italian folk music tarantellas, pizzicas mazurkas etc etc etc without a hint of Italian heritage that I'm aware of, so there you go.

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## brunello97

Mick Kennedy.  But I'm Irish on my mother's side.  My godparents were from Padua, Italy. St. Anthony is my patron. After my beautiful (German) wife my mandolin is my most constant companion.  How lucky can a man be?

Mick

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## Didge

I'm English, Irish, Welsh, French, German, some Native American, and probably something else thrown in there for good measure. I've got brown hair with blond highlights, I tan red, I have what seems to be one of the most in-pronounceable German last names known to grocery-store clerks, and my DNA lights up like a Christmas tree whenever I hear a jig :D

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## Bertram Henze

> Hey, Bertram, I didn't make the the "greek quote", it was Jock.


That's what you get when you rely on software.  :Disbelief:  I just hit the "Reply with quote" button on Jock's post - no idea how the pointer to you came in.

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## Tim2723

What great responses!  I didn't expect this much info from such a simple question.  What a place.

The comment about your DNA lighting up when you hear Irish music intrigues me.  Not only does that happen for me, though I haven't and Irish gene in my body, but oddly the opposite also happens for me.  When the Klompendansen starts, my genetic Christmas tree shuts off.  I feel guilty about not exploring my heritage, but I just can't get past that oompah.  The folk music of the Netherlands just shuts me down.  I think my mother was frightened by a tuba.   :Smile:

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## Bertram Henze

> When the Klompendansen starts, my genetic Christmas tree shuts off.  I feel guilty about not exploring my heritage, but I just can't get past that oompah.  The folk music of the Netherlands just shuts me down.  I think my mother was frightened by a tuba.


I know *exactly* what you mean  :Cool:

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## Tim2723

I console myself with the knowledge that I was born with a waterlogged, shriveled finger.  (Think it through, think it through.)

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## Dan Hulse

That's funny Tim. Thanks I needed a laugh today. Great discussion btw.

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## Jim MacDaniel

> I console myself with the knowledge that I was born with a waterlogged, shriveled finger.  (Think it through, think it through.)


Sounds like someone needs a stroopwafel  :Wink:

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## Loretta Callahan

Yup, Bertram ... I know what you mean about software inserting what it wants to ... and we never know when. 

I can also relate to Tim's Mom bring frightened by a Tuba.  Waterlogged finger, eh? ...   :Wink: 

In all fairness, the Scots/Irish have their own share of some of the most insipid and annoying musicians and music anywhere.  I've gone into sugar shock watching Public Broadcasting, for example. I shall refrain from listing the musicians .... it's not nice.

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## Tim2723

> Sounds like someone needs a stroopwafel


Ever try to plug a hole with a stroopwafel?

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## allenhopkins

Three-quarters English (with a touch of Norwegian from 125 years ago), one-quarter German.  Ancestry traceable back to colonial times, which explains a Canadian family exile when the New Jersey ancestors voted "Tory" during the Revolution.

Over a long and mediocre career I've played bluegrass, blues, Celtic, klezmer, and a buncha other stuff.  Ethnicity -- what's that?

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## timthebear

I'm 3/4 (or so) Irish/ Scots, 1/4 English; I play some celtic music out of interest in my heritage, but I can't say I play or listen to all that much - I'm more interested in airs than jigs. Maybe now there's a place to talk, if not play, with others I'll do more. As for hair colour, the red and freckles is in my background, but as you can see from my avatar, it didn't transfer to me...

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## steve V. johnson

Jim McDaniel wrote, "...though we have roots in 19th century Galway via my paternal grandmother's family -- based upon where many of our people were in the 1700's (Pennsylvania), 1800's (Kentucky), and 1900's (Indiana)..."

Damn, son... goin' downhill all the way...   LOL!!  'Course some might say that your folk did figure out how to improve on that Kentucky...

stv

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## Fretless

Oy vey! If my DNA dictated my choice of music I'd likely be playing clarinet in a Klezmer band or maybe arguing the merits of Chicago versus Cleveland polka styles.  :Disbelief: 

I'm a Polish/Ukrainian/Russian Jew/Second-generation American. My ancestors were so poor they had to sell off most of the vowels in their names in order to put food on the table. I have relatives with unpronounceable names who came from unpronounceable villages in Europe.

I grew up with quite a mix of musical styles but found Irish on my own, followed by Scottish, Cape Breton and Shetland. One taste was all it took; I am drawn to the music like a burr to a shoelace. So much for genetics. 

I'm grateful that music is unfettered by ethnic or geographical boundaries. One evening last year, I was walking with my daughter in Osaka (Japan) when I heard _Cup of Tea_, faint but unmistakable. Following the music, we discovered a Japanese band called Sheena playing on the street corner. Now how cool is that?  :Smile: 

Fretless

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## Jim MacDaniel

> Jim McDaniel wrote, "...though we have roots in 19th century Galway via my paternal grandmother's family -- based upon where many of our people were in the 1700's (Pennsylvania), 1800's (Kentucky), and 1900's (Indiana)..."
> 
> Damn, son... goin' downhill all the way...   LOL!!  'Course some might say that your folk did figure out how to improve on that Kentucky...
> 
> stv


lol -- assuming Indiana was their intended destination, but maybe they actually ran out of gas (or oats) on the way to Michigan?  :Wink:

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## Ravenwood

Welcome to the Cafe TimtheBear. I know its a long drive, but if you get to my neighborhood we have a closed session (advanced) in Forest on Friday nights (but we would be happy to have you as a guest), and an open session (intermediate, but accommodating to beginners) in Sarnia on Wednesday nights. PM if you are interested.

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## Tim2723

I like the name.

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## Jim MacDaniel

lol - Tim2723, Destroyer of Mandolins, and timthebear, destroyer of pick-a-nick baskets

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## Tim2723

I thought it was pick-a-nick baskets, like you'd find in Jellystone Park.

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## steve V. johnson

Jim, when I lived in So. Illinois, it was said that the good, honest, god-fearing and strong people made is across the Ohio (and Wabash) and then the Mississippi and went on to settle in the north and west.  Them whut wasn't, couldn't, and didn't,  settled in southern Illinois.  They were kinda proud of that.

I'm sure your people were the goodn's and were a great addition to Indiana.   (Not all of us are...  XD )

stv

stv

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## Jim MacDaniel

> ...I'm sure your people were the goodn's and were a great addition to Indiana.   (Not all of us are...  XD )


Thank you for that, but you may want to hold judgement on _me_ at any rate: while the rest of my siblings attended IU for their Bachelors, I went to Purdue.  :Wink:

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## Paul Cowham

I don't think it matters where you are from, if you like a style of music then go for it.

I maybe have a little "celtic" blood in me, my grandmother grew up in Scotland, but I also try and play a little klezmer music and don't have any jewish blood (at least to my knowledge!), and a little bluegrass - now I'm certainly not American although Bill Monroe I think had Scottish roots, does that make a Scottish person "qualified" to play bluegrass?!

The British blues boom of the 1960's was started by a bunch of middle class white British people who really got into the black American Folk music, big difference in heritage but that didn't matter and helped revive the careers of some of the original blues artists.

At the same time I do think that if you grow up listening to and immersed in a specific culture that must help your understanding of it and also that its great to be proud of your heritage.

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## timthebear

> Welcome to the Cafe TimtheBear. I know its a long drive, but if you get to my neighborhood we have a closed session (advanced) in Forest on Friday nights (but we would be happy to have you as a guest), and an open session (intermediate, but accommodating to beginners) in Sarnia on Wednesday nights. PM if you are interested.


Thanks, Ravenwood. Forest and Sarnia are about 2 hrs, so not really too bad. I would like to make it down sometime. I'm not playing Celtic at all with anyone locally, though it is the folk music of choice hereabouts in Scottish Kincardine and Tiverton. Are you active in the summer? That's the best time for me, being a teacher. I'll keep my claws crossed that things will work out.   

(PS is Ravenwood any connection to Ravenswood, the place?)

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## Tavy

Just catching up with this fun thread...  :Smile: 

I'm half Cornish, so I guess that sort of counts?  Not that I play any Cornish tunes though.... just whatever music I like  :Wink:

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## Eddie Sheehy

I bleed green.  I've never met a tune I didn't like, be it pop, classical, klezmer, ITM, Blues, Folk, Turkish, Russian etc.

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## Daithio

My father's grandparents were from Leitrim and Longford. As members of the Church of Ireland they did not identify themselves as Irish American.  In the 1950s, my parents got involved with the Civil Rights movement and the folk music that went along with it. In the 1970s, my father, active in the Philadelphia Folk Song Society, helped organize concerts by the Boys of the Lough and the Chieftains.  I sat in front of Mick Moloney and Eugene O'Donnell wanting to learn their music.  DNA? I don't know, but I like the music.

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## Chris Keth

> As Loretta says, hearing the music stirs something in the innards.


That's just all the fried Scottish cuisine.  :Smile: 

I can't say I fall into the "aren't" category. My Dad's family comes from Aberdeenshire (with a convincingly, though not 100%, provable lineage back to almost the year 1000!) and Mom's family name, anyway, is Welsh.

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## Loretta Callahan

Hahaha; that's hilarious  .... Maybe my kinfolk bought some of those vowels off of your unfortunate ancestors  :Grin: 




> I'm a Polish/Ukrainian/Russian Jew/Second-generation American. My ancestors were so poor they had to sell off most of the vowels in their names in order to put food on the table. I have relatives with unpronounceable names who came from unpronounceable villages in Europe.
> 
> Fretless

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## Goodin

100% American here.  My family has been in TN for over two centuries now.  I'm headed to Ireland next month to get a feel for how the "real" Irish folks play their trad music.  Can't wait, although I'm sure I will be asked to play some bluegrass, or Dolly Parton :Wink: .

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## Bertram Henze

> Maybe my kinfolk bought some of those vowels off of your unfortunate ancestors


...and exported them to Hawaii

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## JeffD

When I was playing and jamming and pub crawling in western Ireland some umpty ump years ago, my Gibson seemed to inspire requests for Jimmy Martin songs.

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## Fretless

> Hahaha; that's hilarious  .... Maybe my kinfolk bought some of those vowels off of your unfortunate ancestors


Well, at least I'd know they were being put to good use rather than discarded into a trash bin. Puts a new spin on "green" recycling...  :Wink: 

Immigration officers at Ellis Island kept a pile of vowels on hand and gave them out freely to many of the new arrivals, including some of my family members, in order to facilitate their assimilation into American culture. They also came up with creative alternate spellings - as a result, my best friend is an Ashkenazi Jew who bears the surname of Gorman. Talk about your melting pot...

Fretless

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## pennyknuckle

Excellent thread. Me and my buddy (guitar) are both Americans with Ashkenazi Jew roots who play Irish stuff (our fiddler's more of an American mutt). We had an (American) Irish whistle player for a while. And I'm moving to Dublin in the fall. I think folks oughta play whatever music speaks to them, and Irish music hit me more than any other folk I've heard yet!

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## KristinEliza

My family always said we were of "German" heritage - but really my ancesters came from Austria, Hungary, and Yugoslavia.  I was told that on my paternal grandmother's side there is some Irish WAY back...but it's never been researched.  

But I've always loved ITM...and I really can't remember when it first happened.  I had the luxury of going to Ireland back in '96...and got to enjoy one pub session...and was even invited to join in (but not as a musician...more of a 'get that gal over there and let's get her to dance and drink') which I was more than happy to oblige.

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## JeffD

> I had the luxury of going to Ireland back in '96...and got to enjoy one pub session...and was even invited to join in (but not as a musician...more of a 'get that gal over there and let's get her to dance and drink') which I was more than happy to oblige.


There have been lots of threads about how to make your self welcome at a new jam and proper decorum to be invited in, and I have often thought being female would be a distinct advantage.   :Smile:

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## Paul Busman

Another Eastern European Jewish Celtic fan/player here.  We listened to a lot of different music when I was growing up, but I don't recall any Irish music except maybe Danny Boy...I started playing guitar in my teens, migrated over to classical recorder and then one night I heard The Chieftains on SNL.  Just HAD to learn to play that music, and with a recorder backround, the whistle was a natural fit.  Via a long and winding road, I ended up making them as a side hobby/business.
Somewhere along the way I got a hankering to play strings again and took up mandolin and here I am...

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## mmukav

How far is Slovenia (part of former Yugoslavia) from Ireland? 

My best friend and band mate is Irish, but my interest in Irish/Celtic music came from my background in folk music.
Fairport Convention, The Cheftains, and of course all those wonderful songs heard on St. Patrick's Day!

Polkas are played in both countries, and who cares whether you drink Guiness or Slibovitz?

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## Bertram Henze

> who cares whether you drink Guiness or Slibovitz?


I think pears have a very clear opinion about that  :Laughing: 

Seriously - I just read once more "The Sea Kingdoms" by Alistair Moffat. He makes a clear point that Celtic identity is made up not of race (nothing to be found in DNA) but of a common language (plus, a geographic place easily reachable from the Atlantic).
Music is a language, right? Therefore, if you play Celtic music you are a Celt by definition, since all places are easily reachable from the Atlantic today.

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## catmandu2

I think it has more to do with "nurture" than "nature."  I'm a white kid from Nothern European ancestry whose played: classical, jazz, rock, blues, bluegrass, OT, ITM, flamenco, cajun, and have felt "unnatural" at times throughout it all!

Lately, though, I've been getting back to my "roots" with immersion in Scandinavian music..

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## JeffD

My cultural roots have little to do with my ethnic roots, which in turn have not much to do with my musical influences.

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## catmandu2

I was watching a documentary on Mngus last evening--someone of very mixed ancestry.  His wife said that he felt we (folks) are often overly concerned with who we "appear" to be, and where we come from.  I'm inclined to agree.

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