mushinnoshin

I’ve been watching a Civil War flick. I may have more to say about that later, but for now — they just showed a scene where the Confederates held a barn dance, and I just wanted to remark on how it amuses me that the music they played, an ancestor of bluegrass, and similar to any fiddle-centric music you might hear in such a period piece on the Old South, sounds Celtic to me.

Of course that’s not a coincidence, as all of that genre up to and including bluegrass proper truly is descended through the Scotch-Irish lineage by way of immigration from the homeland. And certainly, there’s nothing original in noticing this connection. I just wanted to remark on it, because it has always seemed an interesting topic to me. Perhaps speaking particularly as a musician with Scottish roots who enjoys the Celtic while yet keeping the Southern at a distance, it represents a part of my need to accept myself for who I am and where I come from — or is it a need to educate my closer “American American” relatives on the European origins of *their* culture?

Eh, don’t really know at the moment. I think I’ll just grab an ale and restart the film.