""Truly listening to music and engaging emotionally/intellectually with it,
is far from being a mere passive recipient... "
Are you serious ?
That is exactly what it is"

Jim - it's called "music appreciation"..
it's an active skill,
which can be improved with training and experience..

"We set up the folk scene to give people the opportunbity to play an active part in our art"

That's nice of you.. Thanks..

But down here in Scrumpyshire where some bloke named Cecil many years ago collected songs
in villages where my dad's ancestors very likely lived, worked, drank cider, and entertained themselves with song..
Well.. seriously.. those long ago simple ordinay working folks may have beat you to it by a century or so...
..and with real social and cultural authenticity rarely ever to be found in later 20th century urban folk clubs...

"We could have satyed and got Emotionally amd intellectually involved in Max Bygraves"

You could have.. and nowt so wrong with that.. each to their own and all that...

But even in the 1950's there was a wealth of diverse music available on the radio, TV, and 78s
to be actively appreciated and enjoyed...
Not just "Pink Tooth Brush"..
as much sheer joy as that record was for a lot of folks...

My mum and dad had a great time in that era,
they were massive music fans...
There was no sitting passively still to the big swing bands and rock n roll...

Who know what they may have been listening to while I was being conceived...
Perhaps blame Stan Kenton or Frankie Vaughan...???


To put it rather unsubtly, it's complete bollocks to dismiss other folks personal relationship with music
if they are not opening their gobs and singing it themselves...

You are one of my favourite mudcatters, I have sincere respect for you,
and would be happy to know you in real life as a mate and mentor..

But sometimes you do work yourself up into talking such over-opinionated tripe...