In my job, I organise a lot of events which have themes and seek music to fit those themes. If I am enquring about booking an artist / group, I will explain that what I am looking for is someone who will follow that theme. The theme will often be followed in the food served, the way the room is decorated etc. I would be very disappointed if I booked performers for, say, a Jacobite event - having discussed it with them beforehand - and they then turned up and sang an evening of sea shanties. I wouldn't knowingly, of course, book a shanty group for such an occasion. In the same way that I would be upset if the caterers served roast beef and yorkshire pudding at such an event.

It has, on occasion, come as a surprise to performers that we do stick to the theme - so many maritime festivals have virtually no maritime music - just any old jazz band or tribute act.

I like to think that with events like these we are all working together to create a whole experience for the audience and if I asked a performer to give an evening of xxxx I would hope they would tell me straight away if their repertoire didn't cover that. I would definitely be more likely to bear them in mind for a future gig, than if they turned up and performed their usual material, and confused the punters, who would be expecting the theme to be followed.