"The ordinary working people of England were never masters of an empire; they were that empire's first colony, and its first victims".
Feels weird to be culturally crippled by an Empire we never had.

Very true but what sort of cracker was this? Not a Tesco's one I bet!

I did see the Culture Show and although it was making the point that Scotland does have a flourishing folk music scene - the point that England has not - was not really demonstrated. In fact the evidence (the young English musicians interviewed) tended to contradict this view.

But many of the Scottish performers will tell you that they do have to look to find work outside of this local scene and much of that work is found in touring England and Wales (and elsewhere of course).
I lived in Scotland for 12 years before moving back home to England - and there are differences but there is certainly no lack of talent in England or lack of musical forms in which to display this talent.

However, this music reflects our past and present cultural mix. This music is quite naturally eclectic and does not (generally) reflect a basic (folk) Englishness. And it is probably better when this is not a forced attempt to do this - but one that accepts English folk music as just one of the many influences open to us. Rather than excluding influences like Jazz, Blues etc.

For the folk music of Ireland, Scotland and Wales only forms the very basics of what the music currently celebrated and reflected in Celtic Connections actually is. And this is of course made by many non-Celts.

I feel that there is a danger of an appraoch to music that tries to be Nationalistic or racial or whatever - even when this is done with the best of intentions. As in truth the music will always transcend these artificial barriers - and so it should.