THCD, Not THCD

[Nathan]

In my view you can compose new tunes in the traditional style and while the particular song with a copyright holding composer isn't considered a "trad" in the colloquial tradition, the group who plays only traditional tunes and songs written in the same style can rightly say they play traditional music exclusively. Moreover, in my neck of the woods, a trad is anything you don't have to pay royalties on when recording or performing. So trad = public domain Celtic music and would include compositions by Neil Gow, J. Scott Skinner, O'Carolan etc... but would exclude popular modern traditional style tunes by Jerry Holland, Neil Dickie or Dan R. MacDonald.

If someone writes a modern tune on a traditional instrument and it sounds enough like the established tradition, it enters the canon and is played by traditional players. If it does not, it is rejected as fusion or some such word.

Let's look at Highland Dress. We know who invented the Glengarry bonnet but that didn't stop it from entering the tradition and, it could be argued, is still very much a part of traditional highland piper's dress.