Greetings to all those who earlier greeted me by name and greetings to those who didn't. I'm not writing this to elicit greetings but to express a concern I have.

I've been reading this thread with a great deal of interest (as opposed to skimming posts). And it occurs to me that taking on a persona and then asking for assistance from persons who post to an online community is one technique that a blogger could use to stimulate discussion and to inform readers about a particular subject or particular subjects. And I believe that MorwenEdhelwen1 may be using this technique.

Of course, there's no way of verifying this. And yes, I'm also aware that some people could (also) think that I put on a persona while blogging for a particular purpose or purposes. However, while I admit to an overarching reason for many of the posts I used to write on this forum (to increase the awareness of African American and other Black cultures), I did so and do so openly without the use of any persona.

However, it's possible that MorwenEdhelwen1 is actually a 17 year old Chinese girl from Australia who wants to be a Calypsonian. It's also possible that MorwenEdhelwen1 knows a lot about rather obsure (to most people) Calypsonians, and also (from this thread and, in particular other Mudcat threads) has exhibited a skill in doing online searches, but somehow didn't know that there were Chinese Calypsonians and also didn't know about Calypso message boards. It is also possible that rather than spend her time on Calypso and other Caribbean blogs, Morwen would prefer to spend her time and energy asking insistent questions about "obscure" (to most people) Calypso records and engaging in pointed conversation with persons on this folk music forum which-by now-she has realized has few if any posters who know much about Calypso music.

Again, all of this is possible. But I have my doubts.

And I don't like those persons who I consider my online friends to be fooled.

Yet I could be wrong. And, if so, my apologies to MorwenEdhelwen1.

Whatever the reason/s this thread was started, I am glad that this discussion elicited information about Calypso music as well as comments about the general subject of people performing music that isn't indigenous to them.

As the original poster wrote:

Subject: RE: A very uncomfortable question- perform other trads
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 21 Apr 11 - 10:33 PM

And BTW, I agree with you when you say that to learn music from another culture, you need to respect it and become aware of its context as well as involved in the culture of the music as well as forming relationships that will gain you respect- and the best way to do it would be to be taught by someone from that culture who has extensive experience of the tradition. That's partly why I started this thread in the first place...

-snip-

Best wishes,

Azizi