I have noticed that though the people of Mudcat (and the folk club culture in general) tend to consider themselves musically and culturally ecletic,the music that people tend to discuss, analyze, and play here tends to filter out the Latino, Hispanic folk music and live performance traditions, even though they are among the strongest musical tradtions on our continent, as well as Arabic, Indian, and Middle Eastern music traditions, which include the most some of the olded and most sophisticated music traditions, and especially Eastern Asian/Chinese. which include some of the oldest music traditions, and also represent the largest number of people on the planet.

There are people here who care very much about these other kinds of music, but they talk quietly among themselves-- The number of "Folkies" who are familiar with this music is small. And if the listeners seem narrow, they are very open, when compared with the musicians, many of whom only care to play in a single genre.

It isn't necessarily wrong that people have a passion only for a certain kind of music, but a narrow range of interests never draws a broad range of people, a least, not for long.