Beyond location: the relevance of regional identities in Irish traditional music

Introduction Irish traditional music has moved from local contexts to a global community leading to questions regarding the links between music and place. While local contexts remain important for the transmission, performance and consumption of Irish traditional music, local distinctiveness is challenged by changing social and economic conditions, technology and the distances that many musicians travel to take part in musical events. Musical styles in Irish traditional music are often studied through the concept of regional styles, based on the assumption that musicians within a loosely defined region share a common musical style. The first significant investigation of regional styles in Irish traditional music was by Sean O Riada in his radio series Our Musical Heritage, first broadcast in 1962. Even at that point, O Riada was aware of the challenges to developing an understanding of stylistic differences in Irish traditional music based on a regional model and the fact that, in many places, these differences were being eroded by changes in technology and society (O Riada, 1982).