Here's a spirited discussion. I haven't heard Dowland's name mentioned for a hell of a long time... Congratulations, Sting, for bringing a worthy obscurity forward.

Now if it were that opportunistic wanker Elvis Costello (currently "rescuing" New Orleans music with the severely compromised Allen Toussaint), I'd feel more critical. But Costello, whose "passionate" affectation is a strangulated bleat, is mercifully preoccupied. Who didn't love his furry, bearded, excursion into The Grateful Dead, or his rifling though Country standards? And his resurrection of Burt Bacharach was priceless. But wait: he'll find out about Monteverdi one day and be back with a new pair of glasses and a different hat. If you really want to bash a popstar, I vote for Declan.

But Sting gets a pass on this one. He's showing rockers and popstars that it's possible to grow up, dig into other forms, and continue developing as artists. His singing (in the two clips that I've heard) is markedly different from his pop style, and those who are waving the "posh" stick are off base.

He'll be bashed for not doing it to the standard which doesn't actually exist, and he'll be bashed for having a pretty wife, and he'll be bashed for thinking he's better than us because he's not overweight, but not by me.