Sir, - You are to be congratulated on your excellent comprehensive special report on Scotland and Ireland (November 30th) but Fintan Vallely's contribution on Irish/Scottish music was far too modest in not mentioning his recent Cork University Companion to Irish Traditional Music. This must be one of the best encyclopaedias ever produced on the traditional music of any country. It also encompasses relevant English, American and Scottish sources.
It is not surprising, therefore, that the Companion also highlights the impact on Irish music and song on Aberdeen and its hinterland, where Tom Devine's newly-opened Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies is situated, and which is described in detail in the Review of Scottish Culture 9 (1995/6) in "The Influence of Nineteenth-Century Migrant Workers on the Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection". - Yours, etc.,
Ian A. Olson, Burns Road, Aberdeen, Scotland.