There has been an incredible change in the fortunes of Irish traditional music which has now guaranteed it at least a two-generation future
This is due largely to the hard work of a a handful of devotees and often has been in spit of disinterest and often hostility of the mainstream media, who often referred to it contemptuously as "diddly-di music"
While any serious attention to traditional music is to be welcomed, it would be a crying shame to see it flounder on the rocks of media glitz - a serious danger, as we learned from the 'Folk Boom' in Britain.
I'm never sure about 'prizes', they are too much like competitions
Traditional music should be for everybody, not just winners - winning should not be allowed to be an objective
If it does, it will become like a certain unnamed musical organisition and have "a great future behind it!!"
Jim Carroll