its the thing i love about the music....meeting someone who makes their own unique synthesis.

i've never gone for this tradition stuff. i love it when someone sings a traditional song or a new song that makes me think....what's this? how clever! you have taken the music home and added your creativity.

the idea that there is one traditional approach that is 'the tradition' is what has buggered and lost the young crowd. well not just the young crowd, its lost everyone who's not actually tone deaf.

this idea that if you acquire the minimum skills and the take yourself off to a session where they grind out the same tune for 20 minutes and the cacophony goes on for eight hours or so - well its hardly a spectator sport.

did the Irish come up with the idea? some chieftain tracks were longish - but they were genius musicians....