England lags way behind other countries such as Scotland, Ireland, Sweden and Finland who have long held their traditional music in far greater respect and given it equal academic credence with other genres. The first Newcastle graduates qualified only last year from a course which requires similar AB grades as any other music course (though these may be waived on merit at audition). Students normally take two studies, one of which may be voice, and although the course is very much performance-based, they also pursue musbiz modules to prepare them for a variety of careers, like any other academic degree. And about time too.

These TDI members (in common with many of the other students I have talked to) have, of course, a deep interest in trad music, dance and song though their attitude is far from precious. Speaking of Topic's Voice Of The People series of source singers for whom singing was a part of their identity, they say how they are drawn particularly to the free-spirited and anarchic singing style of travelling people which they have studied carefully. To quote Lauren McCormick: 'We're drawn to thoise singers not just because they sing great songs but because of the way they sing them. They're not only bearers of a tradition but creative musicians in their own right. We don't listen to them out of a sense of duty, we listen to them for pleasure. They're great singers'.

Because we are no longer a society in which traditional arts are passed on while down a mineshaft or toiling in a cornfield, contemporary performers are learning their craft by electronic means and from each other in somewhat more sophisticated surroundings. Seems like progress to me. Isn't it ridiculously Luddite to call this 'middle-class fraud'?