Ulster-Scots gets Danish attention

The growth of the Ulster-Scots cultural and linguistic diversity has attracted the attention of Danish National Radio.Katrine Nyland Sorenson, an experienced radio journalist, visited the province last month to made an hour-long radio documentary for Denmark's national radio station. 

   She met and interviewed many local people who are involved in Ulster-Scot cultural and language development here.  Below she gives us her objective impressions of her appraisal of Ulster-Scots.
 
   "I have covered the political situation in Northern Ireland on a regular basis for the Danish National Radio and one of the leading Danish newspapers for the past seven years.  But it has been very interesting doing something completely different this time round, concentrating on having a closer look on a cultural movement in the making," said Katrine.

   "For a long time I've been intrigued with the fact that the more globalized the world becomes, the greater importance ethnic identities seem to have. When I first read about the Ulster-Scots movement a few years ago, I became very interested in getting to learn more about what this was all about  - whether the resurgence of interest in Ulster Scot culture is part of a global trend, or it's a reaction to the Nationalists' growing interest in Irish language and cultural heritage, or it's a need to explore an identity that is neither British nor English or Irish but very much Ulster?"

   "I think that there are many challenges ahead for the Ulster-Scots community as language issues and the question of cultural heritage can either be used as a marker to divide or unite people.

    "But I think that Ulster-Scots have the advantage that it is a tongue being spoken by both Unionists and Nationalists and that the two communities have a lot in common when it comes to musical traditions."

   The programme will be broadcast on DR P1 (Danish National Radio) on May 1 at 2 pm and the Ulster-Scots Agency will be putting a link to the programme on its audio radio player on the website www.ulsterscotsagency.com