Sure it is a good thing to have folks that have a purist view. But I tire of pompous arses who think they understand what traditional music is. One thing that is a tradition in Irish music is that it will change, the instrumentation will change, and folks will change the music to what they hear or feel in it. I am a madman who is attempting to master the Uilleann pipes and I am very sure that I will be a long time dead before I get close. But one thing I have learned is that if 10 pipers listened to the same recording of a tune, they would play it ten different ways and rarely would any of them play it the same way twice. And in the history of Irish Music, the UP's are fairly recent.

Do I think there are too many bodhran players? I think there are too many that haven't attempted to master the instrument. But is there any instrument more trad than the bodhran? I don't think so. It is like the penny whistle in that it easy to play, but very difficult to play well. I wonder what your man thinks of Kevin Conniff?

Just rambling, but I agree with the born again scouser. This man wants it to stay a certain way, but the music of our people has never been static and never will be. The nature of the Irish is to continually tinker with it, all the while tipping their hat to the past.

Mick