This is a slight departure from the topic of the thread, but I think it illustrates how finely hairs can be split in this type of discussion.

Last summer I attended a music festival and workshop that included some wonderful musicians from Scotland who were there to teach both Scottish and Irish music. (Wattie, you're the best penny-whistle teacher there is, but I still can't play a cran - did I spell that right?)

We (the Americans), decided we would host a "Celtic" session in honor of our friends from the British Isles. After the "session" got underway, we quickly discovered how differently people on opposite sides of the pond define what is considered to be a "session", and also what is considered to be tradidional Irish music. What we thought was a "session" was considered to be a "play- around" by our guests. We thought Turlough O'Carolan's music was considered to be tradidional Irish music. We were informed that it is not. Apparently, he was influenced too heavily by the Italian Rennaissance. After some initial confusion and some friendly discussion about how to proceed, we decided that the Americans who were present were not up to the blood sport that the Scottish guests called a "session", so we had a lovely "play-around."