I think the age old issue about what folk music IS should be reviewed here, and that to start we should break it down into its component parts. It is made up of two words: folk, and music. So perhaps we should ask ourselves, "What are folk?". It will be much easier, once that is fully clarified, to go ahead with the next difficult issue, "What IS music?"

This will provide those who wish to constrain the conversations on the Mudcat with clear consensus and guidance for establishing the important policy guidelines as to which conversations do and do not qualify.

I would like to request that the discussion, however, be conducted off-line -- perhaps by long distance teleconferences -- amongst those wishing to particpate, and that only the conclusions, thoroughly documented, be posted to the Forum.

A reasonable thing to do would be to provide an expected delivery date for these results, so I will suggest we should expect the first draft of the results by the end of April, 2009.

Do let us know how you are getting along.

A.