The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #99963 Message #2003116
Posted By: Jerry Rasmussen
21-Mar-07 - 11:14 AM
Thread Name: It isn't 'Folk', but what is it we do?
Subject: RE: It isn't 'Folk', but what is it we do?
The only disagreement I'd have with that definition is that "commposed popular music" remains unchanged when it is taken over by a community. That is often not the case. All you have to do is listen to Charlie Poole or others doing popular music to see how much they've changed it. Once a community gets it's hands on a song, they shape it to reflect the culture of their community. The "folk process" works equally well on composed popular music. That's true of much of the body of composed music. I see it in hymns, all the time. In some newer hymnals, the line in Amazing Grace: "That saved a wretch like me" has been changed to "That saved and set me free."
The folk process is just a scholars term for faulty memory.. :-)