The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #98391   Message #1949964
Posted By: GUEST,Shimrod
27-Jan-07 - 05:59 PM
Thread Name: Research project: Traditional Folk music
Subject: RE: Research project: Traditional Folk music
Years ago I heard a singer (I think it was Wizz Jones - but I may be wrong), in a Folk Club, sing a song called 'Put A Little Label On It'. The point of the song seemed to be that labelling (or, possibly, defining) things is BAD and that naming things tends to diminish them (in some undefined way - sorry, just realised what I've written!).I didn't agree with that song then - and I don't agree with it now!
My feeling is that if a thing is not named there is a risk that it will disappear before we have a chance of appreciating it. This probably happens every day to living organisms, and it is only when we have labelled them that we have any chance of saving them. If the early collectors hadn't defined traditional/folk music we might have lost it before we had a chance to appreciate and enjoy it.
Personally, I think that this 'horror' of defining/naming/categorising things is just anti-intellectualism (or, perhaps, intellectual laziness) masquerading as philosophical profundity.