Dr. Gordon Ramsey - Lecturer Historian Writer & Musician
Dr. Gordon Ramsey
Born into a family of Ulster-Scots heritage in Dundalk in 1957, I grew up in England from the age of three. Joining the British army at 18 led to service in environments ranging from the arctic to the jungle, including active service in Northern Ireland. After leaving the military, I worked in London as a motorcycle courier, before going to Florida to train as a Harley-Davidson motorcycle mechanic. Returning to the UK led to some years of work as a mechanic and workshop manager. A Change of direction in 1996, brought me back to Ireland, where I worked first as a guide and then as manager of the visitor’s centre at the Carrowmore Megalithic Monuments in Co. Sligo. Re-entering education in 2000, I completed a degree in Ethnomusicology (The Anthropology of Music) at Queen’s University, Belfast, and went on to complete a PhD thesis focused on Co. Antrim flute bands. Learning to play flute and fife as part of my research, I have been a bandsman for close to a decade now, and remain an active member of Sir George White Memorial Flute Band, Broughshane and The Ballykeel Loyal Sons of Ulster Flute Band, Ballymena. I also plays traditional music in soirees, sessions and folk ensembles. Outside music, my passions are sailing and classic motorcycles.
As an academic, I have contributed articles to a number of scholarly journals and books including the forthcoming Encyclopaedia of Music in Ireland and my book, Flutes, Drums and Loyal Sons: Music, Emotion and Identity in Ulster Marching Bands will be published in 2011 by Peter Lang of Oxford.
Currently lecturing in Anthropology at Queen’s University, Belfast, I am available to give presentations on the history and development of marching band traditions in Ulster, and on their relationships to other musical traditions within the province, including harp, fiddle, pipes, Lambeg drum and classical music.
I am also available to perform with fellow bandsman Sam Quirey as the folk duo ‘Slemish’, playing fife, flute and whistle tunes from the Ulster-Scots and Irish repertoires.
I may be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Amar Shah
Amar Shah is an ethnomusicologist who was born and raised in Kentucky, and is currently working on a Masters degree at Queen's University, Belfast. Amar feels a particular affinity between the folk music of his home state and that he has encountered in Ulster. His research is focused on the Ulster-Scots revival in Cairncastle, County Antrim.
