Embracing the melange

This reflective paper discusses Irish traditional music festivals in Athens and the intermingling of Greek, Irish and British musical identities. Drawing on the author’s mixed heritage, the paper explores the concept of authenticity and the subjectivity of experience, and why formulating thoughts about diaspora, identity, community and music and the processes by which they come together is as much a personal exploration as it is of the thing you’re trying to study. The paper concludes that Athen’s Irish traditional music festivals function as catalysts for relational change, where musical identities can meet and develop in new directions.