I'm currently writing something about Northumbrian music and would really appreciate the comments of anyone who's managed to get hold of this collection (or some parts of it). Did Johnny Handle and the rest of the team get the geographical area, the stylistic boundaries, etc, right? Who or what have they missed?
In my personal view, the main criticism is a tendency towards orchestrated arrangements which may say a lot about the sources of funding and expected market. But surely there's some truth in Martin Carthy's glass analogy (BBC2, July 23 2004): if we treat traditional music as some precious thing which mustn't be dirtied we're hurting it far more than by using it - PERFORMING it - however we can? let me know what you think