The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #146498 Message #3396147
Posted By: Rob Naylor
27-Aug-12 - 07:37 PM
Thread Name: Where are the youngsters?
Subject: RE: Where are the youngsters?
FloraG: Robb - You have cheered me up. Is the event run by ------ or by us bus passers?
It was started about 7 years ago by a local musician called Paul Dunton. He's in his late 30s now, so was in his early 30s when he started it.
All the organising's done by the musicians themselves, with volunteer helpers.
And (to counter Jack Campin's carping a bit) if you look at the influences the kids on the Acoustic stage cite, a lot of them reach back into British traditional and roots music...admittedly often by way of Richard Thompson, Martin Carthy etc. They value their heritage, but they're not hidebound by it and they certainly don't want to scrunch up in the corner of a pub listening to bitter oldtsers moaning about how young people "would love this if they only gave it a chance"....they take what they value from the past and bring it into their own present, with (largely) their own peer group....plus a few people like me who are actually prepared to go along to *their* venues rather than assuming that *they* ought to want to come along to "ours"!