The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #21991   Message #236771
Posted By: JohnL
01-Jun-00 - 08:13 AM
Thread Name: What is it with the English?
Subject: RE: What is it with the English?
A big problem with Folk in the England is visibility or rather lack of it on TV and radio. Is there really no time for the likes of Martin Carthy and Family, Kate Rusby, Dick Gaughan, Robin Williamson & Clive Palmer, John Martyn, Michael Chapman etc. etc on radio or TV? Great assets to this country but I can count the number of times I have seen them on TV on the fingers of one hand! There's only Radio 2 for a couple of hours a week, which I always seem to miss. I get my information by reading the music press and taking a chance on buying a CD by a new artist, which is hardly ideal – what about all the great ones I probably don't hear! Ireland, Scotland and Wales seem to have stronger cultural identitiesbut at what price? I think the English are vastly more receptive and tolerant as a nation to outside ideas and cultures and all the healthier for it! By the way, I am of Scots/Irish/English origins so I have a foot in each country (which is quite a good trick if you can do it).