>> it's not denying that there are TRADITIONS (plural) in music as in many other things. These are quite often local and very different across the country. What is totally dubious is that there is The Tradition <<

OK leveller, I do take your point - though I think Howard has answered it well. I'd also refer back to the examples I mentioned, of ballads and ballad motifs being shared by globally-separated local communities, as a reason for considering the larger picture as well as the local one (English song 'The Keys of Canterbury' = Cajun song 'Paquet d'Epingles' - that kind of thing).

To me the definite article in the expression 'The Tradition' signifies nothing more than that we're talking about the specific tradition of song transmission, as opposed to any of the other ones.

I don't know most of the posters here but I guess they're simply music enthusiasts like I am. All this talk of 'The Tradition' being held up as some kind of religion is just mischief-making.