[Harp-L] Authentic Pronunciation and the Boston accent

["Aongus Mac Cana" <amaccana@xxxxxxxxxx>]

I am old enough to remember when JFK was the hot number.
A lot of people in Ireland when they heard John F. Kennedy speak for the
first time thought he could not be a proper American, because he sounded so
different from the cowboys on the movies. That was the first time I realised
that there were recognisable regional American accents.
On the other hand we in Ireland are astounded to find that Americans can
think that a guy from Dublin or Belfast sounds like a Cork man. "I just love
your Irish brogue"
New Zealanders can get quite shirty when you confuse them with Australians.
Now lets get into harmonica accents. A Scots Box player or Fiddler is
distinguishable from an Irish player - even playing the same tune. Are
consumers of the "tin sandwich" equally distinctive?
There was a time - not so long ago - in Ireland when you could readilly tell
a fiddler from County Clare as distinct from one from Donegal or Sliabh
Luachra. One of the effects of a general improvement in playing standards
(lamented by pure traditionalists) has been that Irish traditional
instrumentalists are becoming sort of "homogenised" whether from listening
to one anothers recordings or by dint of too much formal musical education.
Beannachtai
Aongus Mac Cana