Jo: Sorry, I wasn't meaning to snap; just in a hurry (as usual). My point about "Greensleeves", "Bangor" and "Hat" (all songs) was that none of them is entirely traditional. Just as at least some of the tunes your French friends know as Scots or Irish are quite likely to have been stolen from the English at some point. There's no doubt that "Irish" music is more widely played than that from elsewhere in the islands which include the UK - seems you can go into a pub anywhere in the world and here Irish music played badly and insensitively. In part the forced emigration (politically or economically forced) of Irish and Scots both spread their music and - at least arguably - helped the extent of its survival, in a way which didn't happen with English music.

So thanks for expanding on your message, and sorry I mis-read it. Also - what about the Welsh? Remarkable things are happening in Welsh folk at the moment. As for the Morris - some great tunes, but my casual observation is that at the moment playing for the morris is at a lower ebb than a few years ago; on average sides seem to have fewer musicians, and the playing has drifted towards the pretty basic. But it could be I've been meeting the wrong sides (and certainly I have met exceptions to the descriptions just given).

G.