Thanks to randjgc, Ekanne and others for eloquently expressing their views. Once again it seems Mudcat attracts, like suicidal wasps to jam, an individual from the ignorant, offensive and barely literate brigade whose sole aim appears to be to humiliate themselves in the face of better taste and higher sensibilities. Let's pass that nonsense over and get back to what the thread is actually about.

The point is that we are talking here about a festival that claims to be about 'Celtic' music, or music with ostensible 'connections' to the same. Now there are limits to this remit, surely. If you have the reputation which CC enjoys, the wealth of high profile and influential individuals at its helm, and its considerable budget, why not utilise these strengths to the benefit, not the detriment, of traditional music (of ANY country)? It is quite clear to me and anyone else of sense that a 'folk' (that dreaded word) festival which aims to benefit the musical genre with which it aligns itself should employ their resources in supporting and promoting traditional and traditionally influenced artists - of which Scotland alone has countless numbers (oh my, how thoroughly BNP of me). It is also quite clear that a festival which aims to be detrimental to the same tradition should book a large number of artists, no matter how talented, that simply have nothing to do with traditional music. I need name no names here - if you can't see the difference, then please go ahead and enjoy giving the likes of Celtic Rejections and Cambridge Boke Festival your ill-earned cash. I am just confused about which side CC seems to be on.

It makes me quite sick to see opportunities for promoting the rich and incomparably powerful traditions of Scotland, Britain and elsewhere being wholeheartedly ditched in favour of 'easy wins', many of whom have *no* possible connection with traditional music. It also makes me sick to repeatedly bang my head against the brick wall of those who are so blandly 'general' and passive in their musical knowledge that they are far more bigoted and narrow minded than the 'folk fascists' they accuse. It really does get rather tiring after a while.

FairEllender