The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #122182   Message #2684384
Posted By: Phil Edwards
21-Jul-09 - 08:03 AM
Thread Name: Does Folk Exist?
Subject: RE: Does Folk Exist?
We're talking about the essentials of music in relation to human community & life experience

You are, I'm not.

The songs change with every performance, every spin, every remix, every dance because the experience will always be of the moment.

I agree. But the words don't change and the tunes don't change, and one song doesn't turn into two or three different songs. That's why I don't call them folk songs. (Most other people don't call them folk songs either, but I can't speak for them.)

These are Folk Songs in the sense that they are known to the folk, cherished by the folk; they have meaning, function, purpose and relevance

I am not denying, have never denied and would never wish to deny that lots of different musics are known to and cherished by ordinary people, let alone that they have meaning, function, purpose and relevance. This has sod-all to do with whether they're folk songs.

as I've demonstrated elsewhere, the 1954 Definition is so nebulous as to be useless in defining anything other than - er - music

Yes, you've demonstrated that the 1954 Definition can be read in such a way that it encompasses all music ever. However, since the 1954 Definition obviously wasn't intended to encompass all music ever, all this demonstrates is that you're misreading the definition.