Romany Man,
Why should enjoying singing and singing well be a contradiction- isn't it possible, even necessary to do both – not a matter of 'rules', just common sense.
Our experience with Travellers has been that every one of them we have met, and who have sung for us on tape, have tried to do so to the best of their ability, have usually succeeded and have apologised when they thought that theyir singing fell short of 'good' – usually totally unnecessarily.
Who am I talking about?
The Stewarts of Blair; Belle and Sheila ranked among the best singers in Britain and Alec was one of Scotland's foremost storytellers
Then there's Jeannie Robertson, her daughter, Lizzie Higgins and her nephew, Stanley Robertson – all good, skilful singer.
They have spoken at length about the need to sing well; see Sheila Stewart's book 'Queen Amang The Heather', or any of the numerous books by or about The Robertsons, or Duncan Williamson or any of the other great Scots Travellers.
We have spent thirty years listening to and recording Irish Traveller like Mary Delaney, who could make you cry with her tragic ballads, or Bill Cassidy, whose singing was so complicated that Peggy Seeger gave up on noting the tunes of his songs – and the dozen or so more who we didn't "happen to meet one time", but spent years recording, some of them becoming close personal friends.
Among the English Travellers, there was the great stylist Phoebe Smith (read her very moving statement about the importance she attached to singing well on her Topic record), May Bradley, whose mother sang for Vaughan Williams, and was herself singing like a nightingale when Fred Hamer recorded her in the sixties. Then there's Queen Caroline Hughes, who gave Ewan and Peggy dozens of songs.
The common factor among all of these was that they were great, skilful singers who totally and thoroughly enjoyed the act of singing.
As far as I'm concerned, they have all enriched our lives and we owe it as a mark of respect to make a half decent job of the precious gift they passed on to us – nothing to do with "rules" – just simple respect.
Jim Carroll