Got down this thread until it turned into what most threads turn in to so I might have missed something really important but in my limited experience of Comholtas concerts (in Ireland) all those talented young people look so bored playing exactly as they are instructed that they appear never to have learned how to enjoy the music of their own heritage. Maybe that is why some of their dancers from England and the USA manage to win competitions over the Irish contestants. On a different point we were in Ireland a few years back (we go most years) and it was obvious that the songs expected to be learned that year were Ellis Island and Caledonia. Some of the young singers in a session we attended actually thought Caledonia was Irish! We had to point out that the clue was in the title which is the Roman name for Scotland. They didn't know neither song was traditional either.