Ralphie (not at home)

Of course amateur performance and accessibility is part of its charm (who would want a professional morris team and wouldn't that destroy the meaning somewhat anyway? - but there are professional folk dance groups in other parts of Europe - I digress) and this is great fun and welcoming and even meaningful in the appropriate context eg sessions, singarounds, informal clubs and so on - but I suggest only if you are "on the inside". How much more fun are amateur mummers than classically trained "actoors". We, on the inside, don't want the polished and slick all the time because we are already hooked on the inclusive atmosphere of these intimate gatherings. But "it'll do, its only folk music" won't necessarily attract the sceptical, it will reinforce their prejudices.

I think we may have the opposite of a virtuous cycle (circle?) here. Not enough of the best is placed in the broader public domain. This serves the myth that there isn't much of "the best" out there and all the rest is mediocre if not worse. If booked at all, it is the mediocre who are booked for events involving the wider public (beer festivals for example) because the organisers expect nothing better than mediocre, possibly also because the mediocre is cheaper than the best - how much? you must be joking, its only folk music! (another thread emerging?). This confirms the non-folkie public collective consciousness in its belief that all folk is mediocre and round and down the circle goes.

Mavis