I'm a big fan of Irish music. I listen to it incessantly, I go to pubs to hear it played live, and my own band is a blend of black metal and Irish folk (by way of our utilization of mandolin, tin whistle, and bodhran). I also know that I am not alone in this. Irish folk music has gained a worldwide following and respect that no other genre has managed to do. I have a lot of time to think of the answers to such questions during my dull job, so here's my theory.
Irish music, while being 100% Irish in its origins and instrumentation, does not use many Irish instruments. The guitar is, for the most part Spanish in origin. The mandolin is Italian. The banjo is American, more specifically, African-American. The tin whistle is of English origin. The accordion and concertina share a mixed Anglo-German origin. The violin is Italian. The bodhran, while having an Irish name, but is of disputed origin. That just about leaves only the Uilleann pipes, which are Irish.
Now I'm not meaning to preach and liberal bullcrap "let's all come together" stuff, but I think that it's interesting that such a diverse array of instruments are used in Irish music, with the music itself still being unmistakably Irish and not diluted. Anybody else have any thoughts on this?
