This was a question asked of me last night at a session in Vancouver (by an Irishman). It makes me think of that recent thread on can whites play the blues?. Im not Irish but Ive been playing trad Irish fiddle music for several years now and really love it. I have given this some thought since people ask me where Im from and the occasional Irish person telling me which sessions to go to in Ireland and which ones to avoid as they are "full of fecking foreigners" (ignoring the fact that Im one of them) . Of course I followed another Irish musicians advice - which was 'f*ck em, just go and have a good time". But Im curious as to what other peoples response is to this topic, namely those who play some other cultures trad music. (I have my own which is Czech, and I play it as well) It would seem to me that if one is to stick to ones tradition - what are we to say about Van Morrison or for that matter Big Tom (Irish country music star) etc. Petr.