My intent was not at all to prevent Charmain or anyone else from discussing--I only wished that s/he had looked it up first and considered refining her[?] question beyond Square One in the hopes of avoiding some of the mudslinging and restating that invariably ensues. I thought it was a fair suggestion considering many of these threads are fairly recent and have content posted by current members, which would give her[?] an idea of what is on our collective minds without reinventing the wheel. (If you notice, I then went on to discuss it myself, anyway. I even meant to be civil.)

I'd never even heard of the 1954 definition of the Folk Music Whatever It Is. Richard's post is the first time I've ever seen it. I can see its point, but I'm afraid I find it both outdated and utterly Anglocentric, Classical and Medieval tunings aside. Does Turkish folk music follow those rules? Does Japanese? African? I don't know, but I'm betting there are loads of exceptions that are very much folk music. (I hate the term "world music", too; everyone's music is somebody else's "world music" once you go over an international border.)