I enjoy playing AABB (or similarly structured) instrumental
tunes at a relaxed tempo. When you play at an unhurried, comfortable pace you enunciate better and you create a sense of space inside the tune. A repeatable stream of single line melody notes, sparsely ornamented, falling into place. Consistent
but not quite repetitive. Trancey, groovy, and hypnotic - with the potential to possess and take one to that alpha state.
I'm not too concerned with place of origin or style of the tunes I get. They usually come from Ireland or Appalachia, sometimes Canada. This is traditional music in the sense that the tunes themselves are usually in the public domain and are rarely written by any one individual. Seek the same thing that those that played these tunes before you sought; don't change it from how it was previously played, but don't sound the same either.
The playing of a tune is an incarnation, a rendering that could come out different the next time around. If you have the sound in your head, sooner or later you'll find a way to do it. Melody and rhythm will always be paramount. I play what I can at (in) the moment and let the rest wait. Hopefully my skeletal, slowed-down arrangements only simplify the tune without actually taking anything away. I get more fun and satisfaction by playing that way, and that's what it's all about, right?
