Great stuff Azizi. This is the thoughtfullest thread for many along day. About two years ago there was a thread on the ethnic origins of catters which, I pointed out, revealed a great deal about the ways that various individuals had come to enjoy folk music and the blues and also told us a bit about the places where they were born and raised, but practically nothing relating to ethnicity as such. I brought a storm about my head when I suggested that the forum seemed to be failing to attract non-whites. It was a simple statement of fact, based on the responses to that thread, but a couple of angries took it as some sort of attack.

I have the attitudes (which, of course, I believe to be utterly pure and right) of an averagely inquiring white European. I believe, for example, that I (and others like me) would know little or nothing about nineteenth century African American culture if it were not for the work of a handful of white collectors and artists whose writings are now, in some ways (and to our own time and sensitivities), seen as embarassing - so I am thankful to them. Which is why I need to hear more from folk like Azizi.

And incidentally, when I first began to read books on my own,I thought that Uncle Remus was a brilliant character, and I envied the child who sat at his feet.