minstrel: Re: minstrel digest, Vol 1 #156 - 11 msgs

[John Doyle]

But let's be honest.  There's been a fair amount of ignorance on the part 
of non-academic performers.  After all, "traditional" MEANS "period," 
right?  And what do you mean, O'Carolan tunes are OOP?  And I know that 
Steeleye Span and Fairport Convention used modern instruments, but those 
ARE period arrangements, right?  Keep in mind, folks, that the SCA got 
its start during the heyday of the Folk Revival.  

Turlough O'Carolan was born in 1670, died in 1738, and began taking harp lessons in 1688 after going blind from smallpox. By 1691 he was very profiecient and became a travelling harper. So, if you follow the limiting range of SCA, O'Carolan is indeed considered out of period.
I do agree with later parts of the post. O'Carolan DOES exude a very period feel, and is responsible for much of the motifs and planxtys which we think of when early Irish music is mentioned, even though he is firmly entrenched in the later Baroque period. Also, his tunes were excellent examples of the oral tradition of song propogation, not being recorded on paper until after his death, by Edward Bunting.
[Source- Legacy of a Legend, by Earle Hitchner, Narada Records, Celtic Treasure the Legacy of Turlough O'Carolan]

Fiontan Mac Dubhghaill
(Itinerant minstrel wallowing in the snows of Mistig Waetru)