Thanks for sharing that Vic.

I realise that to be criticising EFDSS's funding choices on Mudcat is a bit like Donald Trump criticising the media – in terms of sheer predictability and slotting into stereotypes.

But in this instance, I'm going to be that person... I do think it is slightly, well, wrong.

If these bursaries are essentially "money for singer-songwriters to record their albums", I wish they'd just come clean about it. That is what, essentially, the last three awards are. In saying so, I make no judgements on their music. They might be wonderful singer-songwriters who will record wonderful albums. But the fact remains they are three singer-songwriters (or groups of) whose chief focus is not traditional music. And the "project" they propose is, er, recording an album. Great.

I mean, the Elli Mae Winters description could fit any number of young singer-songwriters today. I also note that the India Electric Company's project is for their "second" release of "2017" – given we're in mid-August now, a cynic would wonder how much research they are really going to be doing, and really whether they actually required any funding at all, given it would appear they were going to do it anyway.

Well, I suppose at least the first four acts are engaged in projects that aren't quite so directly self-serving; they are not just "money for albums" and they are being given to musicians with demonstrable commitments to trad music.

That said they are very fiddle-centric and almost exclusively musicians engaged in classical-folk arrangements. You'd have thought that someone at EFDSS would have pointed out the notable homogeneity there.

I'm kicking myself for not putting in an application myself.