Enclosures, Clearances, the First Wave, oh my!

(San Francisco, CA) During the 18th century, Ireland, Scotland, and England all experienced similar social changes and hardships that forced many of the poorest members of society to effectively become exiles from their native lands. Scotland experienced the “highland clearance”, the English had the “enclosure movement”, and finally, the Irish had the “first wave” of migration to the United States. Countless subsistence farmers were forced to migrate to other regions, countries, and even continents, leaving their homes and livelihoods behind. Showcasing some of the music that would have been made and heard by these immigrants both before and after they left their homeland, this program features folk tunes and popular dance music from the British Isles in the eighteenth century as well as descendant tunes from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. In person and livestreamed at blemf.org.