Well I am pretty sure that any American Old Time musician present on Saturday would have detected a definite English accent, in the music being played. But could it also be that the English people detected a little of themselves in the origin of this very same music?

Not too sure if the latter would be true of the English samba players or belly dancers though?…. But maybe?…. I suppose it depends on how far back you choose to go?

I did not detect however much in the way of excluding any influences from the music being played. This was my first visit to such a gathering and I played along with my less than conventional Old Time instrument, the bouzouki. I wasn't told to 'bugger off' but did receive a number of pleasant comments as to what a nice instrument it was and what a nice sound it made. During one song I was even invited to 'take a break' "on that big mandolin".

In truth I did not attempt to play any Irish or English tunes……Or did I?