"Ritual & Tradition spring from the same basic urge which is common to all - not just that shadowy class of unwitting lore-carrier known as The Folk by their self-appointed caretakers."   
This is utter gibberish - apparently to offset one of your somewhat spectacular foot-in mouths
Traditional singers, storytellers, musicians.... have spoken at length about their attitudes to their arts - the Travellers, Appalachian singers, East Anglian fishermen, the singers and storytellers recorded by Tom Munnlelly, Ken Goldstein, Lomax, John Cohen .... whenever they have been asked they have filled tape after tape with information.
We spent thirty years recording Irish Travellers, rural Irish smallholders and Walter Pardon
On what grounds do you claim that they are in any way "unwitting"? You really are a pontificating, armchair-squatting clown.
Jim Carroll