I read what Dick Gaughan had to say, and I've read (most of ) what various participants have had to say in this thread.

Despite the fact that the thread has become tangential (to say the least) to the original opening, I think that Conrad/Peasant's point seems to be that one cannot be selective or have preferences- one must sample equally from everything one cannot have opinions and promote those opinions through one's life, art, singing.. whatever..

Also, why does poor old Dick Gaughan get such a vigorous "doing"? If you were to ask any folk performers rooted in the Loyalist tradition to perform or showcase songs from the Republican?nationalist tradition, I can only imagine the response that would be generated.

It is reasonable to ask a nationally-funded entity like the BBC to maintain a bias-free reportage.. but last time I looked, Gaughan received no license-payer's money.

So.... is what sparked this off the use of the word "tradition"? As far as I can tell this has been hijacked in an Irish context to mean "political/cultural/religious grouping"..

In a musical sense that is not what the rest of us understand it to mean... I think that what Gaughan was referring to was the debate about traditional music vs modern music... not about one "tradition" versus another...

And just for the record, I'm from Glasgow, from a Protestant upbringing, and I bloody hate the Orange marches....

Cheers M'dears...