Trad Nation

Trad Nation Synopsis

Just how "Irish" is traditional Irish music? Trad Nation combines ethnography, oral history, and archival research to challenge the longstanding practice of using ethnic nationalism as a framework for understanding vernacular music traditions. Tess Slominski argues that ethnic nationalism hinders this music's development today and in an increasingly multiethnic Ireland. She discusses early-twentieth century women whose musical lives were shaped by Ireland's struggles to become a nation; follows the career of Julia Clifford, a fiddler who lived much of her life in England, and explores the experiences of women, LGBTQ+ musicians, and musicians of color in the early-twenty-first century.