From Matthew Gelbard's 2007 book 'The Invention of "folk music" and "art music":

"Patent, 'objective definitions of both folk and art music, whether by the International Folk Music Council, text book authors, or anyone else, are doomed to inconsistency, tautology, and ultimately self-contradiction because folk music and art music are not timeless, objective truths, but very human constructions."

and:

"..it is the histories of the concepts - the nebulous masses of connotations that build around them - that give them meaning ... an act of historical 'defining' that uncovers the deeper assumptions and prejudices that the terms have picked up."

Discuss.

Sue Allan
(gets coat and runs ...)