Malcolm, you make some very good points. I don't agree with them, but that doesn't mean there's anything wrong about them. But we have drifted away from the original purview of this thread, or rather we have generalized outward from one aspect of it. Perhaps we ought to get into sometime on a thread specifically devoted to the question of whether or not traditional music retains its traditional nature when played outside of the tradition that spawned it.

As for the dialect question, I really don't care whether or not someone is singing with their own accent, or with an assumed one. All I really care about is if they are doing a good performance. I generally dislike country & western music, but if I hear someone really putting their soul into a song, and playing with skill and integrity, I will sit and listen with rapture. The vitality of the music is what's important. The rest is little stuff, not to be sweated over.

John Peekstok


P.S. Mzzry, you sound like an accent waiting to happen . . .