I am just back from a Traditional English folk festival. I have seen English people playing and dancing Irish, Cajun, French, Old Time, and even 'belly' dancing! They seemed to be enjoying themselves and doing it well and it was of great interest to those watching.

There were English people playing and dancing to English (Morris) tunes and they seemed to be enjoying themselves too. They were very serious and earnest about enjoying themselves and they had many books available for sale at the festival, to consult to ensure that they were doing it correctly. There was even an English Music session, which mentioned in the programme, that you would find no Celtic tunes.

It was my impression that the members of the English public were rather mystified by this English music and dance and did not understand it or even appear to enjoy it as much as they did the other forms on display. It did not appear to me that it was 'of them' or 'belonged to them' in any natural way or that there was any link apparent between those participating and those casually watching.

There are world class English performers of every kind of music you could mention, like Blues, Jazz, Indian, Bluegrass, Gamelan and whatever? Why is it that the English appear to play absorb and appreciate other's musical styles so readily and appear to have little natural or general appreciation of their own?