SO'P wrote: People are composing in traditional idioms the whole time; many traditional idioms the world over are founded on the tradition of new composition, be it Slavic epic ballads or in hundreds tunes written daily for the Northumbrian Smallpipes - a tradition which is strongly based on composition anyway. Newly composed traditional music happens all the time - be it written, recorded, computerised, spontaneous, improvised, feral, found, scored, or otherwise.

I actually agree with this. I didn't spend the time to adequately nuance my answer, because that complicates the discussion so. But here's a bit more: Of course people who play traditional music also compose music, much of which will sound a lot like music that has passed through through the folk process. Of course some traditions are based on new compositions. I am one of those who don't really care -- if it sounds like a traditional song to me, then it rings that chime in me that traditional songs do. As I said, I'm really not a traditionalist.

In the end the only tradition that matters is the tradition of human beings singing and playing music irrespective of style, taste, or genre, of which folk is just one example - no different to any other, except in the minds of the faithful.

This is where you lose me. Yes, sitting around playing music with other people is one of the best things in the world, but that doesn't change the fact that traditional music (and newly composed music within a tradition) is a different genre than contemporary folk, and that many of us find it useful to be able to discuss it as such.

John Peekstok