A New Approach to the Classification of Gaelic Song

Abstract

This essay illustrates the importance of songs and singing in traditional Gaelic society, revisits earlier attempts to classify Gaelic song, and examines whether or not the effort of constructing a classification system is still worthwhile. Finally, it examines the place and role occupied by singing in Gaelic in our own time, and in particular with the contextual and aesthetic changes that have shaped the performance of Gaelic song in today’s commercially-driven “world music” environment.

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