Most of the "old" songs we have only date back to the 19th or maybe the 18th century. The sea shanties we know came mstly from the late 19th century,when the techniology cahnged so that smaller crew had to be more efficient, and needed the songs. Most of the instruments we think of as traditional in Irish music only came in within the last couple of generations - banjos, squeeze boxes, mandolins, bouzoukis, even the bodhran as it's used today.In South Africa they learned to dance in gumboots. Steelbands were invented within living memory.

And I could go on,The point I'm making is that much of what we see as tradition is modern. Living traditions change and develop, and throw up new things noone expected. I see no reason not to expect that this will continue to be the case. We'll lose some things from the living tradition. If we don't have the kind of work that needs songs, we won't have work songs. But we'll get other things in place of them.