The Scots-Irish CELTIC ROOTS of AMERICAN MUSIC How did the HIGHLANDS of Scotland, Western Ireland evolve into the unique American MUSICAL sound of the APPALACHIAN Mountains? More than 400 million years ago the Highlands of Scotland and the Appalachian mountains of north America were the same Caledonian mountain range. The Atlantic Ocean cleaved millions of years ago splitting the Caledonian mountains into the separate Scottish and America ranges. The craggy spires and crusty hills of northern Scotland called the Highlands divide the country from the Isle of ARRAN to Stonehaven point at DUNNOTTAR Castle. We know Dunnottar as the clan Keith stronghold that sheltered Marie Queen of Scots/MQS on her return from the Battle of Corrichie in 1562. In the 6th century the Isle of Arran was settled by Irish families, overrun by Viking invaders, then formally joined Scotland in the 13th century. Note that there are also the ARAN Isles off the western coast of Ireland and Aran is the name of patriarch Abrahams brother. BRODERICK Castle on Isle Arran was a seat of the Duke of Hamilton in the time of MQS. Lord Lennox (Darnleys dad) led an attack on the castle as King Henry VIIIs agent during the rough wooing of the 1540s. Isle of Arran shares geology, history and culture with Ireland. That culture however was forcibly destroyed by Queen Elizabeth Tudor in the late 1500s by her massacre the Irish and replant with English Lords program and reinforced by the clearances of the late 1700s. The Clearances were forced eviction of the Scots landowners and clans that followed the Battle of Culloden in 1746. The Battle was the culmination of the takeover of the Dutch King William after invading England and overthrowing King James VII/ II of Britain in 1688. King James had fostered religious freedom and the Protestant supporters of King William did not want freedom for other religions. The destruction of the Irish culture and people by Queen Elizabeth Tudor and the destruction of the Scots people and culture by the Protestant followers of Dutch King William oddly led to a musical renaissance in the Appalachian mountains of the New World. The oppression of the Irish and Scots and resultant poverty created desperation that drove the Celtic immigrants west over the sea. Some found sea passage as white slaves called tenant farmers. The tenants were enslaved for at least 7 years to the their Protestant landowners of the new world on the Atlantic seaboard of the future USA. When their term of slavery ended they sought their own land among the cheap real estate of the Appalachian mountains - cheap because of poor soil and hilly terrain. Desperate immigrants they were, but they brought with them their fiddles and the freedom and melodic richness inherent in song. The FIDDLE is a country cousin to the violin that evolved in Italy in the mid 1500s. Music could also be inexpensively made from a washboard or a spoon or a curled wire (mouth harp). They created the DULCIMER - a four stringed lap guitar. They brought with them their Celtic ballads and dance tunes. There are history lessons within the lyrics sometimes of battles fought on ancient Scottish and Irish fields or the spiritual battle of a woman abandoned by her lover or the tedium of wrestling a living from the forests and mines. And they birthed a new culture of music in the new land.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 21:32:07 +0000
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