Sunday 4th November sees the annual MTV (EU) Award ceremony, to be held in Bilbao. This year’s ceremony looks like throwing up a surprise or two with traditional English counter-culture band, The Somerset Paddy Ticklers tipped to pick up a couple of awards. 

Their traditional Hey Ho Hop seems to have caught the  zeitgeist,  connecting the country with it’s traditional ethnic roots, either that, or fans just like to drink scrumpy and watch grown men hit each other with sticks. Whatever the reason, their use of traditional instruments and wholly inappropriate lyrics  has caught the imagination of the record buying public.

They’ve topped this years parade, with old fashioned favourites, like; “All my children died of plague“, “The Lincolnshire Filcher“, and the Traditional Geordie hen-party anthem, “I shagged a soldier and all his mates.”

Punters are betting on a win in the ‘Best Song With A Social Message’ category for the traditional ballad, “Squired in the Rectory.” combining, as it does, a criticism of feudal hierarchy, religious practice and modern notions of sexuality.

It is hoped that the popularity of this traditional ethnic music could do for the depressed region of Somerset, what Hip Hop did for black culture in the USA or Ed Sheeran did for Galway.

Whilst some of the patois may be lost on those, for whom English is not the first language, the relentless thumping of the tabor and the pleasant sounds of the recorder appear to have caught the ear of music fans everywhere.