"What is wrong with this picture?" Topic

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The audience. The band is playing a trio of jaunty jigs, and what is the audience doing? Are they dancing? Are they even smiling or nodding their heads?
Heck no. They are behaving like they are attending a temperance lecture.

Too many "folk" performances are like this, and the more "traditional" the music, the worse it gets.
Isn't music supposed to be entertaining? Give performances where the audience is having a good time, instead of looking like they need to get an A in "Folk Music Appreciation 202. Symbolism and Structure."

The hell of it is, I had run across references to a jig called "Old Hag, You Killed Me". And what do I see? A class attending Differential Equations.

Give me a Makem and Clancy or Pogues audience any day.

They won't even let you mosh at metal concerts these days. The world is truly full of Philistines.

The audience here : YouTube link YouTube link may be more to your liking.

Bellowhead – what a band.

I'm watching Ed Sheeran Live at Wimbelton (sp?) and the audience of 17k + is getting into the music. You go to a concert to let the music move you. At least that is why I go.

May I point out that that was recorded in the 1970s. Miserable times.

x42

Indeed, Mr. Smith. Do you not understand the importance of preserving and studying art? Were it not for the efforts of this dedicated coterie, such music might fade from history. Only by rigorous training of a devoted few can we hope to carry these vital works forward to succeeding generations without fear of modification or mutation. Every note must be studied. Look at the faces of the musicians. Granted one seemed to loose his composure and no doubt he was properly flogged thereafter. Art is a very serious business, not one for rank amateurs such as yourself, dear sir.

I was at the Mariposa Highland Games in, I think, 2000, where the poor musicians were playing while the attendees were getting their dinners. A terrible time was being had by all, then Paul Espinoxza of Golden bough was invited to sit in with one of the other bands. Things continued on their dreary way until Paul got a little loopy and went off on a tangent, slipping from "Little Brown Jug" into "Brown Eyed Girl"… By the end of the evening, we had all the bands up on stage rocking out, the attendees dancing, and the organizers looking on with their jaws on the ground and tears in their eyes. Not the ceilidh they were expecting…

Isn't music supposed to be entertaining?

Yes but why do I have to be dancing to show that I'm entertained? I don't dance when I read a good book or see a good movie. In fact, I hate dancing.

Especially folk dancing. It is one of the two things that no one is supposed to try once….