Is it important to maintain a tradition in order to simply maintain a tradition?

This has important resonances with other threads, and might just be deserving of a new one: Pedantic Folkies v Pragmatic Folkies! Thing is though, I think I might be a bit of both, although a decent pint or three does make things easier all round. The Crack, as they say in Newcastle & Dublin, is all that matters. Some of the worst sings I've been to have been all traditional, whilst some of the best... well, you get the picture! So, whilst I only sing traditional songs (exceptions only going so far as to prove the rule) & tell traditional stories (likewise), how is that when it comes to music, traditional is the exception that proves a rule of resolute experimentalism, noise, sampling, looping, hip-hop, & free-improvisation? All of which, by the way, I regard a being as English as Elgar.