I still maintain that the term Folk Music has more than one meaning; and that there is a pragmatic usage not entirely inconsistent with even the most Orthodox Reading of the 1954 Definition.

As an essentially creative / improvising musician, my music is more informed by folk than it is by say jazz or rock. I sing trad. folk songs to improvised accompaniments on Indo-European folk instruments; I improvise on these instruments using traditional Indo-European rhythms & modalities. I also improvise when I talk using the common English language & structures thereof to spontaneously compose sentences in response to other English speakers. All life in improvisation - be it the fields, on the beach, in the kitchen or in the bedroom. Sun Ra spoke of music being a universal language; and improvising jazz musicians such as Johnny Mbizo Dyani, Don Cherry, Dudu Pukwana, and Ken Hyder spoke of their music in terms of being folk music, rooted in their respective cultures by way of an international awareness arising from the national, which is something Hamish Henderson spoke about. When I write my autobiography it will be called Perverted by Piobaireachd.

But once again I might groove on the objectives of the International Council for Traditional Music (formerly the International Folk Music Council): to further the study, practice, documentation, preservation and dissemination of traditional music, including folk, popular, classical and urban music, and dance of all countries.

Now that, I think, just about covers it!