Comments from our readers

Having recently had to bring some of these together as part of our never-ending, and utterly fruitless search for funding, I though a bit of self-publicity wouldn't go amiss.  So here are a few of the comments we've had - from all around the world - starting with a link to a review of the magazine in Folk Music Journal:

Folk Music Journal - review

When I first came to London from Yorkshire in the early '80s, Tony Russell told me I was one of only two subscribers to Old Time Music in that area of the country.  The internet, against all the odds, does seem to have opened up the reach for this kind of information.

Musical Traditions continues to look good and be an essential read.  With so few people in the media covering traditional musics in critical depth these days, it's good to see a magazine like yours continuing to chronicle the wider roots scene.

John Crosby - PressPromotions

Looking through the listing of current articles in MT I am struck by the sheer quality of so many of the pieces.  Georgina Boyes has written a splendid paper on Alice Gomme, Mike Heaney has done the same on the Morris and I really enjoyed reading Vic Smith's account of Bob Lewis.  Then there is Roly Brown's continuing series on the 19th century Broadside Trade - a wonderful series of the first order.

Frankly, I'm amazed that so much excellent material like this can be found in one place.  Well done.

Mike Yates

I always try to ensure I have at least an hour to spare before entering the site, which this morning afforded the usual plethora of delights ...  Thanks, Rod for your continuing Herculean efforts in maintaining such a hugely important resource.

Keith Chandler

I've long admired Musical Traditions as the best web resource for informative writing on traditional music.  My impression is that it's distinctly from a British perspective, which makes it unique for me, as none of the various related publications in the States captures your successful balance between an academic approach and a more 'down to earth' kind of tone.

Scott Prouty - Washington, DC

I really enjoyed discovering your website.  Unlike most of the web it is truly informative, authoritive and well-written. I also am very grateful to you for reviewing the CD Dominique Cyrille and I edited on Martinique.  I'm really glad to see such a thoughtful review.

Julian Gerstin

Many thanks to you for making Georgina Boyes' article on Alice Gomme available, and to the author for giving us further insight into this important figure.

The MT Articles and Enthusiasms sections are wonderful and thought provoking reading.  I look forward to many more.

Steve Tunnicliff

I have to confess to being a regular user of your website, and have found the reviews a most valuable guide to buying (or avoiding) CDs.  I doubt if I would have heard the Uyghiur musicians without your help, and this has been one of many treats.  I was also pleased to follow up the review of Charlie Lennon's Time for a Tune.  The articles are also well worth reading, and I have lost many hours online following your links pages.

I have bought a copy of the Cyril Poacher CD (through Veteran) and was very impressed with it, not least because of the rounded picture that was given of Cyril himself, and of the settings in which he sang his songs ... and to express to [Fred McCormick] my congratulations for his production of the Joe Heaney CDs.

Matthew Edwards

I'm not sure I've written before to say how much I enjoy Musical Traditions.  If not, let me correct this oversight by saying thanks very much for such an excellent and enjoyable website ...  I've read some excellent articles, enjoyed the often eloquent debate in the letters section, and, generally have a good time on my all too-infrequent visits.  I live in a medium-sized community in British Columbia, Canada, so the Internet is really the only way to keep in touch with what's happening in the area of British folk and traditional music.

Stephen Harvey, Canada

Re: Jefferies F/Bb - Many thanks for putting in ad - sold it that day to someone in Ireland!  It seems that people are scanning your ads all the time.  It can now be removed.  Who do we make the donation out to?

Dave Williams

What an excellent resource you have produced.  Having started to revisit my teenage love of folk/traditional music (and acquired a computer), I have been searching the net for information.  Yours is definitely the best general site of them all.  Can't wait to explore it more.

I must send you a donation and order some CDs - especially interested in the East Anglian singers, as that is where my family roots are.  Keep up the good work.

Neil Manthorpe

To all of you who put this site/magazine together - congratulations on providing the rest of us with such a valuable resource.  I found you as a link from Ozfiddle and will be coming back to the site fairly often.

I noticed Cyril Phillips included on a recent collection of Sussex singers.  Cyril stayed with my family on several of his trips to Australia and on his last trip I cannibalised a Hohner 2 row to get his melodeon working again.

Bob Rummery, Australia

Of course, I usually just occasionally read the blighter and marvel, but knowing how nice it is to get feedback I thought it was time I sent you a "well done" on the mustrad site. Better than working, eh?   ;-)

Ian Anderson, Editor fRoots Magazine

May I say ... how impressed I was by your website - quite the best and most useful I've seen in a long time.

Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, Galway

It always amazes me what tangental information you get on a computer search.  In looking for info on "VOCHES DE SARDINNA " I came across your website.  Actually I was trying to figure what this CD was, since I've become totally fasinated by it.  I did not have the booklet as the CD was only lent to me by the manager of a record shop.

Thanks for the wonderful insights on this group and the style of music.  I must admit I knew zero about this style and found your comments of the 'oral to the literate' quite insightful and something to ponder.

I look forward to further explore your site for reviews even though I know not who my future President may be!

Sometimes we trip across the best stuff ...  Fortunately!

Robert Mousaian - Dayton, Ohio, USA

I love the Musical Traditions website.  I check it frequently.  I'm always happy to see something new has been added and always disappointed when there is nothing new since my last visit.  I will certainly continue to visit MT regularly.

Russ Hatton - USA

Stumbled upon your website recently and I gotta say it blew my mind.  Undoubtedly the most comprehensive site I've found on traditional music - great job, really commendable.  While my interests do not lean so much towards British folk music, I found plenty of other material in the articles alone to keep me returning for quite a while.

David Whitmer - Sothebys

I love the Musical Traditions site - it's a life-saver for someone like me who loves traditional song (especially English) but finds few locally to share that with.  I promise, I will subscribe sometime soon...

Becky Nankivell - Managing Director, Tucson Friends of Traditional Music

Congratulations on what is now, with your group of CD issues, emerging as a valuable service to anyone interested in traditional singers and singing.

Roly Brown

Your magazine is BRILLIANT!  Hours of fun!  I have only just rediscovered your wonderful mag (which I subscribed to, sometime in the dim dark past).

And thank you so much for your FAQ paper re: downloads.  I have not long been on-line, and it has helped me more than all the Manuals, Helps, Computer Mags ever have - Blessings on You!  Have you by any chance, written more guides, or considered writing one on the things we need to know, in your plain language style?

Richenda Bridge, Maleny, Australia

Just a quick note to congratulate Musical Traditions, and you in particular, on the George Townshend CD.  It's great to have these recordings made available and you've done a good job on cleaning them up.  The booklet is very informative.  Perhap's Peter Kennedy could have taken a few tips from MT when 'preparing' his Harry Cox notes for What will become of England!

Keep up the good work; looking forward to the Walter Pardon double CD.

Paul Marsh - Forest Tracks

Came across your excellent site by chance today while researching a new guidebook I'm writing for the AA.  Trouble was, there's so much interesting stuff there that I spent a fair part of the morning reading when I should have been writing ........

Hugh Taylor - Broadcaster and Travel Writer

I've just taken delivery of the Musical Traditions CD.  The only word for it is magnificent - please accept my sincere congratulations for the way in which you have made everything so accessible.  It has to be the deal of the new millennium - so much information and pleasure for a tenner.

John Woodman

Just surfed onto your website - what a cracker!  Too much to read in one shot, but clear comprehensive and up to date.

I've been searching for information on old Scottish Fiddlers and, lo and behold, I found two articles on J S Skinner and Niel Gow!  I will tell the other musicians I know about my great find.

Jez Leonard

I send my compliments on your most interesting Musical Traditions website.  Well done!

I have included a link (and commentary) to your main page on the Arts & Music page at Island Ireland, which is an Internet directory to Irish art, culture and environment.  I have also included links to three specific articles related to Irish music.  I really enjoyed looking around your pages.

Deb Keener - Island Ireland Internet Directory

Musical Traditions is one of my favorites. I've learned a lot and discovered a great deal, fishing around in its pages.

Dave Marlatt

Well done with issuing Musical Traditions on CD-ROM - I hope that you get a lot of orders.  God knows, most people have absolutely no idea of the time and mental energy expounded in such projects.  The website still works a treat and is justly winning awards.  Keep up the good work.

Paul Marsh - Forest Tracks Records

Congratulations on your site Musical Traditions, which has been awarded a Highly Commended rating by Schoolzone's panel of 250 expert teachers.

Philip Collie - Schoolzone Search Engine

The site does make intelligent use of the multimedia possibilities, especially the use of sound files to illustrate the articles.  It is also much easier to present visual material.  There is a continually updated and growing bibliography of recordings, something that would be impossible to present so helpfully in print format.

All in all, Musical Traditions well merits regular visits by the serious scholar as well as Internet surfer.  It has rich, varied content and makes intelligent use of the medium.  The material available at the site has lasting merit, and my only reservation is that there should be a clear editorial policy statement about the long-term retention and preservation of this valuable resource.

Michael Heaney - Folk Music Journal, Volume 7, Number 5, 1999

Il vostro e' un sito davvero interessante. (Yours is a truly interesting site).

Giovanni Vicidomini - FolkItalia

Congratulations!  Your Web site has received the Web Feet Seal of Approval and will appear in 'Web Feet: The Internet Traveler's Desk Reference'.  Web Feet is the premier subject guide to the best Web sites for students, researchers, and the general public and is the first comprehensive Web guide that is interactive and updated monthly.

A site is included in Web Feet only if our researchers think it is an outstanding site in its subject area.  The Web Feet Seal of Approval tells teachers, librarians, parents, and students that your site is especially valuable for research, teaching, or general interest.

Catherine Barr - Editor, Web Feet: The Internet Traveler's Desk Reference

What a great website you have there!  I bookmarked it ages ago, but only got around to look at it now.  The articles I have looked at so far were very well informed and written.

Hans-Hinrich Thedens - Norwegian Collection of Folk Music, University of Oslo

... your magazine is the only publication of quality that I know of in the trad music line ... so I've been reading our site since I heard of it, despite the fact that I rarely look at the web otherwise.

The review by Paul Roberts was especially cogent and I found his remarks on older British fiddling very helpful .....

Mark Wilson - Editor, North American Traditions Series, Rounder Records

I enjoy your magazine very much and have followed it since the first hard copy issues.

Don Hill

First of all, thanks for a great website!  I generally return to it every time I get a reminder from you via e-mail, and just now am reading through Mike Brocken's dissertation - which I downloaded - and passed on to several others as well, including Israel Young of the Folklore Centrum in Stockholm, and Sam Charters.  Keep up the great work,

Scott Barretta - Editor, Jefferson Blues Magazine

I write you to give you my congratulations for your web page, Musical Traditions - it's really good.  I have read many of your articles and it's one of my favourite sites.

Manuel Sánchez - Arca de Música magazine

I've taken the liberty of adding a link to your (extremely valuable and enjoyable) Musical Traditions web site to my own page of ethnomusicology links.  Also, would you be willing to add the British Forum for Ethnomusicology to your own listing of links?

Dr Jonathan Stock - Chair, British Forum for Ethnomusicology,
Department of Music, Book Reviews Editor, World of Music, University of Sheffield

Great magazine (what I've seen of it!) and thanks.

Malcolm Rockwell, Kula, Hawaii

What an extensive and thorough review ... I'm impressed by your knowledge of the cantu a tenores tradition.  You certainly know your stuff - a great and informative review.

Bob Haddad - Music of the World Records

Hello: I just wandered onto the Musical Traditions website and was impressed and intrigued.  The next time I am on the web, I will read more carefully the pages on your publication's history and funding--I am amazed at the quality of the information and presentation, given that you must be operating on a shoestring.

Anyhow, I am very impressed by your magazine and will visit you often to see what's new.

Philip Yampolsky - Editor, Music of Indonesia series, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

Best wishes to all involved with Mustrad. Keep up the great work.

Alan O'Leary - Copperplate Distribution

Found your marvellous site while trawling the Net for information on Anne Briggs .......  Thanks for putting together a really fascinating site - I haven't gone into it in detail yet but will certainly keep coming back.

Rob Smyth (Australia)

Many congratulations on your Web site.  Has our world not been transformed?  I think you're right to get in to this medium.  The world has yet to wake up to the power of the Web.

Peter Wood

Thank you for the wonderful and thoughtful service your pages provide.  Obviously John Cowley's painstaking analysis of A Treasury of Library of Congress Field Recordings - and Chris Smith's lovely review of the same - are of great, even permanent, meaning to me.

But beyond that, you have gathered writers who are honest, comprehensive, and well-intentioned ... Heartfelt thanks for your wonderful web site.

Stephen Wade - Editor, Treasury of Library of Congress Field Recordings, Rounder Records

Hey, thanks also for the magazine.  Even on my ancient steam-driven computer it fires up quickly and is a great read.

Mike Jackson - Australia

I found your website while doing some research on music folklore.  Thank you for a great site, which helped me to finding what I was looking for.

John J Cassar

Thanks for a well-balanced analysis of the Century of Song CD.  It makes a pleasant contrast to the bilious effort published in the current issue of ED&S.

Keep up the good work on your interesting pages!

Simon Furey

I really look forward to your e-mails about updates.  The RA is so much quicker than most sites and adds a lot to the reviews.

Jennifer Harding

Thanks for the info on the Mag.  Looks fantastic.  I had a quick browse - it is awesome.

David De Santi - Wongawilli Colonial Dance Club Inc. & Illawarra Folk Club Inc

Congratulations!  Your page: http://www.mustrad.org.uk/ has been selected to receive a Links2Go Key Resource award in the Folk Music topic.

The Links²Go Key Resource award is both exclusive and objective.  Fewer than one page in one thousand will ever be selected for inclusion.  Further, unlike most awards that rely on the subjective opinion of "experts," many of whom have only looked at tens or hundreds of thousands of pages in bestowing their awards, the Links²Go Key Resource award is completely objective and is based on an analysis of millions of web pages.  During the course of our analysis, we identify which links are most representative of each of the thousands of topics in Links²Go, based on how actual page authors, like yourself, index and organize links on their pages.

Links²Go Organisation

Congratulations on the very high standard of the MT website.  I only have access at work, and usually not on a multimedia PC, so have not yet experienced the audio clips.  However, even without sound, it's excellent.  Technology really is making things possible now that must have seemed like pie-in-the-sky just a few years ago.

Andy Turner

We looked at your website and were very impressed.  You have my permission to play parts of my music.  I agree with you - that's a great service for the reader.

Dwight Diller

I think I tried to take in too much at once--I just spent two hours reading and trawling around your web pages.  I'm astonished at the time you and Keith must have put into it.  I've not read much of your own writing except for the discussion of the definition of 'tradition', but was impressed by the cogency of your arguments and ability to identify threads of false logic.

Julie Henigan, USA

As usual, it's a pleasure to visit your web-magazine : it's growing better and better.

Beppe Greppi - Disci Robi Droli - Italy

Yes, it's installed and working - but what about my phone bill?  What an amazing experience!  Wow!

Fiona Frank

Congratulations on an excellent e-zine! Excellent reading, and it takes good advantage of the possibilities of electronic publishing.

Would it be possible to reprint your Traditional? article from Musical Traditions in our local Folk Society newsletter in Canberra?

Simon Kravis

I have just discovered your web site - very impressive!

Warren Fahey - Larrikin Records, Australia

Just discovered the magazine and enjoyed it, especially the thoughtful reviews.  Many thanks!

Stephen Jones - Roger Millington Publishing

Nice site.  Clean and attractive.  Quick to load (all too rare, that one).  Some nice articles.

Chris Timson - the Concertina FAQ

I'm writing to say thanks for Musical Traditions, which is the most impressive site I've found, from my point of view.  I was particularly happy to find the Ponte Caffaro Dancers material, because I still remember them from Sidmouth years ago, and am always hoping somehow to get to see and hear them again .  Your feature was the next best thing.

Kevin McGrath

I just checked out the latest update of Musical Traditions.  Once again you've done a great job!  As a cynical computer professional, I see very little in my work-life that justifies this technology, but something like what you've been doing with MT gives me hope.

Chris Platt

I enjoyed reading your article about Ponte Caffaro and Mr Chandler's piece on Francis Shergold.  Altogether an excellent introduction to Musical Traditions.

Norman Stanfield, Vancouver, B.C., Canada

I had a look at your e-zine and I must congratulate you on the standard of presentation and the articles.  I would be delighted to contribute ...  I like the approach and I have to say - now that the North seems to be getting its act together (fingers crossed) - I think its time we started talking too!

Lillis Ó Laoire

Just got my EFDSS mailing yesterday, and saw the piece on the traditional song meeting which mentioned your website.  I've just taken a tour and am very impressed.

Stephanie Smith - Smithsonian Institute

Just to let you know I have looked in on your Musical Traditions several times.  Many good things ...

Peter Shepheard - Springthyme Records

I've now looked at the Musical Traditions updates - very impressive.

John Moulden - Ulstersongs

The printed version of MT was one of the great inspirational publications of the traditional/folk music scene.  Myself and Ciaran and some others were at one time considering attempting an Irish equivalent but it came to nothing but talk.  I have been following your on-line development - yet another inspirational move!  Perhaps we should resume our talk about an Irish equivalent ....!

Seán Corcoran

This is to say that MT's fantastic - most interested in Fred McCormick's article on Cantometrics.  If you get enquiries, I used it in my tutorials at Dartington and have copies here for anyone interested.  Your photos of the Ponte Caffaro Carnival came out beautifully.

Peter Kennedy

I wanted to say how lovely it is that you've resurrected Musical Traditions for the Internet.  I love traditional music as well as tradition-based explorations, and have been writing for Dirty Linen, Sing Out, and other US Publications for years now.  I'm glad to have another place out there where real traditional music will be discussed.

Everything I've seen looks great.  Keep it up!

Steve Winick - Contributing Editor, Dirty Linen Magazine

I was delighted to see that MT is managing to keep going and is now online.  I've had a quick look at your website, which looks great and has an amazing potential now that you've decided to go down this route.

Graham Dixon

Just taken a look at the Musical Traditions page - looks good - a full read will have to wait until I can do so on someone else's phone bill (I'm working on getting work connected!)

Jo Rihan

I saw your magazine: fantastic!

Maurizio Martinotti - EthnoSuoni, Italia

Hi, I just got pointed in the direction of your site.  I'm not sure how I can contribute from 1,200 miles away, being dependent on magazines/websites like Folk Roots/Dirty Linen etc for news of the folk scene in the great wide world outside of NZ, but it's good to see an e-zine dealing with traditional music outside of the 'mainstream' - I'll be a regular visitor ...

Alex Cormack

Just a note of congratulations on the electronic Musical Traditions.  It's good to have the material available and nice to see a web site with real high-quality information.

I enjoyed your Ponte Caffaro article, and the photos are excellent.  I have an addition to the discography: I have a cassette which I bought from the dancers when they came to Sidmouth.

Martin Nail

I have added the MT page to the Dirty Linen press page (www.dirtynelson.com/linen/links.html#press) on our web site, and will do the same in RootsWorld next time I update.

Cliff Furnald - RootsWorld

I really congratulate you folks on getting on line.  It is a valuable service and appreciated.

Thanks again for your hard work.

Gary Newman - Fairbanks, Alaska

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