Jerry, the flaw may be in the American Folk Music CD, if it purports to be a full sampling of American folk music. I can't say that I heard very much Scandinavian or Scandinavian derived folk music during the Great Folk Scare, but that doesn't mean there wasn't a lot of it around.

The Pacific Northwest has a large population of Scandinavians, many of whom are descendants of immigrants who came here to work in fishing and lumbering. The northwest quadrant of Seattle (Ballard, a mix of business districts and residences—and the Nordic Heritage Museum—is one of the nicer areas of the city) is so infused with Swedish and Norwegian culture that some of the locals (including Scandinavians) often refer to it as "snoose junction." (Snoose=snuff, used by loggers and fishermen, allowing them to keep the tobacco habit going, minus the danger of setting something on fire).

Within the past half-century, one of the most successful dance groups in this area, with a huge number of participants, both Scandinavian and non-Scandinavian, grew out of the late Gordon Tracie's Scandia Folk Dance Classes. The classes and dances used to draw hundreds of people, sometimes two or three evenings a week. Most Scandinavian folk music activity, at least around here, seemed to center more on dance than on songs and ballads, but I'm sure they're here, too. Certainly a rich area of folk music that I failed to look into. In retrospect, a really dumb omission, considering the resources available, especially since my mother was full-blooded Swedish. She was born in Norway, Kansas, about five miles south of Scandia, Kansas, the youngest of ten children of Peter and Greta Peterson, who had immigrated to the United States from Dalarna, Sweden. Mom knew at least a few Swedish folk songs, none of which I learned (Dumb! Dumb! Dumb!). Sometimes one overlooks a great source just because it's right there at home and all too familiar!.

There are several areas in the U. S. with large populations of Scandinavians, same as Hispanic, Italian, German, Irish, you name it. American culture seems to consist of lumps. In some cases, the Old Country culture survives more tenaciously than it does in the Old Country. Gordon Tracie was once asked to assemble some of his best dance students to tour the Scandinavian countries and give exhibitions, because many of the dances they did were more "authentic." They had not been "diluted" as much as the same dances the way they're done now in Norway and Sweden.

Another aspect of Scandinavian folk music is that many of the Child ballads (and other folk songs) have roots in Scandinavian songs and ballads, and Scandinavian versions still exist.

How many non-Scandinavian Americans (of whatever national or ethnic background) have to participate in a Scandinavian folk activity before it can be regarded as not only Scandinavian, but American as well? Same question for all other categories.

Just a mess of rambling, "stream-of-consciousness" thoughts and questions.

Don Firth