The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #131549   Message #2977430
Posted By: Howard Jones
01-Sep-10 - 09:01 AM
Thread Name: Traditional singer definition
Subject: RE: Traditional singer definition
Dick, as I've pointed out before, while it may be perfectly accurate to describe yourself as one thing while you sing one type of song and something else a few minutes later, it is of little practical help. Inasmuch as these labels mean anything, they help us to form an idea about the singer and their performance. This is particularly significant for those singers who came from the living tradition, since their experience and background adds an extra dimension beyond that of the song itself.

To describe yourself (or anyone else) in the terms you do is as much help as saying you wore a green shirt at last night's gig. It tells me nothing about what you will perform, or wear, at tonight's gig.

It is of course entirely possible for someone to perform in different genres, and then it may be be perfectly reasonable to describe them as one thing or the other, depending on the context (although not always - I always think of Yehudi Menuhin's attempts to play jazz - despite being a virtuoso on the instrument he always sounded like the amateur he was alongside Stephane Grappelli. However their activities in one genre may have little connection with the other.