Ye Gods,where would we be if we were all made to play the music of our own ancestry and nothing else.....?

Go to China, like the Chieftans did. They found the same rythmn patterns and even similar tunes. They made a record of it, and you can barely tell where one culture ends and the other begins. That is what music should be.

And for those travelling in Ireland - a friend did that some years ago, with a tape recorder. He managed to fill 90 mins of tape with music, of which he recognised one tune, Haste to the Wedding. There was general laughter and hilarity at the end of it from the musicians, and a strongly accented voice whispers into the mike - "ah, sure an' we put dat one in for da tourists!"

And I thought a plastic paddy/biddy was one who only pretended to be Irish, like all those theme pubs we get now, was I wrong? If so, them I'm a plastic human.....

LTS