Great stuff, Sorcha. All is not lost, after all! We had a similar experience at Tenterden Festival earlier this month. At the final singaround on Sunday evening a couple of young lads in their teens turned up with guitar and asked if they could sing. "It's not really folk" they said. "Don't worry – sing" said Kathy Drage. They did, and they were great. Self-penned songs, sung in a modern idiom, and they were a pleasure to listen to. Kathy summed it up afterwards, saying "I thought you said it wasn't really folk?" Amen!!
The other side of the coin was seen on Saturday in the High Street. A large crowd were watching the Appalachian dancers, when along came a teenager with regulation white baseball cap and earpiece. As he passed by he didn't even give a sideways glance. If he'd looked round and sneered it would have been something, but no – nothing. I thought that was so sad – he seemed so preoccupied with himself.
Still, as long as there are some like the lads at the Sunday singaround the baseball caps will not prevail.