The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #21279 Message #227633
Posted By: Victoria H.
13-May-00 - 05:46 PM
Thread Name: Is Braveheart's authentic celtic music ?
Subject: RE: Is Braveheart's authentic celtic music ?
One more note on my previous post.... if we insist on drawing specific lines discouraging crossover between styles, traditions and genres, what are so many Americans doing playing pipes in the first place? (not a serious question there, obviously!) One of the great things about "tradition" is how it carries on through generations,through families, through different time frames and countries and continually adapts, changes and grows, while coming from it's own roots. American "tradition", for example, is based on the traditions of countries from Ireland and Scotland to Russia, Poland and Japan. In a country defined by it's wealth of cultures, I am pleased to see cultural traditions of ANY kind taking center stage, and while I cringe along with everybody else at hearing "elevator music" versions of "Scotland the Brave" at least it is being played! The new age psuedo-celtic wave has it's drawbacks, certainly, but if true traditional music and bands get more attention from the public at large because of them, it has served a purpose. There is something, however, to 'truth in advertising'. I once saw Alistair Russell quoted as saying something along the lines of "If people like that sort of music and are buying it for that reason, that's fine, but if they are buying it because they think it's traditional, then they are being fooled" (I paraphrase) I am inclined to agree with him. Okay, that was SEVERAL more notes! Ooops, sorry! :-)