The role of music in the construction and maintenance of Irish identity among musicians in New York City at the turn of the millennium

The Irish have had a significant presence in New York City for over two hundred years, but most particularly since An Gorta Mor [The Great Hunger] of the mid-1840s. Since that time, the musical expressions of the Irish have been a major part of the City's musical life. These musics are embedded in the "world-historical political economy" (Marcus and Fischer 1986) of New York, and thus both reflect and inform this political economy---including, most importantly for this project, being entwined with ideologies of cultural nationalism and ethnic identity, as well as with the evolution of technology---resulting in the continued creation of Irish versions of many of the major genres of Western music extant in New York City.;Because this is not a genre-specific study, a general overview of all of the types of music making that have had a significant presence among the Irish in New York has been outlined, with the aim of providing a historically informed cultural context. This has seemed particularly appropriate in the case of this project's focus of study: Irish musicians in New York, a significant number of whom frequently reference the past---usually events from Ireland's political and social history, as well as music(s) from the Irish and Irish-American past---in the course of music making.;The fieldwork for this project included working with practitioners of Irish traditional music, rock music, parlor music, ballads, and the European cultivated tradition, with the goal of more clearly ascertaining the role of music in the construction and maintenance of Irish identity among musicians in New York City at the turn of the millennium.