The question I have to ask though is this - was your experience as a young speedy musicain less valid than your experience as an ... erm ... more mature musician.

Your taste was different back then - you wanted high intensity and high adrenaline as part of your music.

I don't think it has anything to do with wisdom one way or the other and I think many of those decrying fast music would enjoy it if they heard it done well.

The difference between an enjoyable flamenco performance isn't how fast or slow it is done, but whether it makes you want to stand up, thrust your pelvis forward, throw your hands in the air and shout OLE.

And when a great Fiddler player grabs a tune by the scruff of the neck and puts it through its paces, it has the exact opposite effect of a poor fiddler attempting to do the same - it makes heads turn, backs straighten and jaws drop (while the poor fiddlers attempt causes shoulders to sag, backs to turn and jaws to engage in conversation).

Most fiddlers aren't good enough to do the former, and if they ever want to be able to do it they need to train up.