The Maritimes (the Atlantic Provinces) were settled so thickly by Highland Scots in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries that even in 1900 much of Inverness County in Cape Breton and parts of Kings County in Prince Edward Island were still culturally Gaelic (Gibson 1998:236). A large number of Irish also settled in both PEI and Cape Breton.
For many years, relative isolation and a strong value placed on musical culture kept traditional music alive. Rock music, television,...