I am listening to this program right now, and I must say that I find it's judgmental tone to be quite refreshing. If one is going to be speaking about the elements of fine performance within a certain idiom, one had better be ready to make a call concerning the qualities that are valued.    MacColl has the guts to put himself on the line and tell us what he likes, and then he attempts to speak coherently about what he finds likable. This is always risky business, but isn't it so much better than being struck dumb by the fear of offending somebody or contradicting oneself.
This gets me thinking about the problems I often have when listening to a lot of the "World Music" that is out there. It seems to seek out the most shallow and obvious elements of the traditional style being mimicked, mixing it up with whatever else is "in" at the moment. Give me a well schooled, judgmental revivalist like MacColl any day!

(Just a little chuckle at how MacColl rattles off the names of a good number of conquerers which subdued Syria over the centuries, but fails to mention the British Empire. Hmmmmm. Weren't they around there for a while ....... like when the present day borders were drawn up in the early 20th century?)