I remember an incident a few years ago when I was helping to organize an open
mike night at a local coffeehouse. The event was held in a typical church
hall that seated about 250. One of the performers, a concertina player, got
up on stage and berated us all for our departure from the 'true folk
tradition' in using a mike at all. She then marched pointedly six or eight
feet away from the mike, and proceeded to play her set. Some of the people in
the first two rows heard part of it.
I read a lot of history, and I really like knowing where we have come from.
It helps to establish some direction as to where we are going, and shows us
where we made mistakes. But the nineteenth century has been over for a long
time, and I, for one, am grateful.
I'm sure the tradition of unaccompanied melody grew up for a number of
reasons, and I'd be willing to bet that at least some of the reasons were
poverty, oppression, and ignorance. Roses grow out of the mud, and the music
of the Celts is a glorious memorial to the resiliency and strength of a great
people. Under other circumstances it might have been just as fine, but not
the same. Now that the circumstances have changed, the music, too, must
change, to remain true to the people who make it. For us, now, the bug in the
amber is a nice thing to have. I'm sure the bug would see it differently.