As I understand the term "The Tradition" is that it is used to identify Irish music by such
organizations as the Comhaltas Ceoltori Eireann. The "Tradition" is the historical music
of Ireland. There is a definitive character to early Irish music in both song and dance forms. The body of work that the Comhaltas has compiled and collected would fit to the
label of "The Tradition". This body of song and dance is not mythological. It carries the history of the country in this expression.

I think there are plenty of people who would like to have the venerated status as that
of "The Tradition" that play and sing. Somehow these people feel excluded when they don't seem to be acknowledged as being "traditional".

Traditional doesn't imply that it is particularly superior in musical forms. It's just
different because it has a history behind it. People writing songs today don't have
the history behind them because the songs are too new to have it. Many of the songs
that you hear have been unduly influenced by the commercial music industry. Not all but it's hard to escape it.

Why "the Tradition" is important is because it preserves much of the music that would be lost in the commercial music marketing which has become a commodity for music merchants.

Organizations such as the C.C.E. are doing a service by teaching the value of the music that is part of the folklife of the country. One form of teaching is getting people to play it.

What is truly mythological is the idea that commercial music which is about making money (the bottom line) is a kind of tradition of itself. The idea that music being made for popular consumption is equal to a music that has historical roots without financial concerns is ludicrous.

I have nothing against musicians and singers making money from their songs. I am a professional musician and I like being paid for it.
Still, I am not a carrier of a tradition. I am interested in traditions of music but I don't fool
myself into thinking that I am reflective of that cultural body of music. I'm much too eclectic
and have received diverse musical information to
be included in a specific "tradition".

So I'm not a traditional singer or player.

Some of you would say "OK so what?" The answer is simple. A body of historical work will be lost
with this attitude. If there is no distinction between the consumer music and the historical
traditional music, then it will be lost.

Frank Hamilton