a performance that is poor harms the interpretation and perfomance of the song.
no one here SO FAR has said that it harms the tradition, what i am saying is that it harms my enjoyment and other peoples enjoyment, as does a poor performance of any music.
yes and i do maintain that classical performers who think they can sing tradtional   songs and that is it acceptable to sing them in a classical style are arrogant, they have not botherd to go to the roots of the music and absorb styles
I would accept it if a classical singer criticsed me for singing opera in a non opertic style.
I would accept criticism from a jazz singer if i sang a jazz song in the way i would sing a tradtional song.
I have noticed in the past on this forum people make derogatory remarks about finger in the ear singers and tradtional songs based upon poor perfomance.
So now I am going to say poor performance can damage any musical genre, albeit it in a temporary manner, but it can put some people off for a long time., so yes it[ POOR PERFOMANCE can harm any music
these are my last words on the matter, good day to you Mr Dow.