Frank, I'm not sure I understand your point about my Ancient Rome analogy. All I was trying to say was that when a culture is rediscovered (or even initially discovered), the intense general public interest it generates eventually fades. It doesn't really matter whether its 'folk' culture or not.

A question. In spite of being outsold by 'pop' music, would it be fair to say that the commercial availiability of traditional music is greater now than at any time before. I mean remember back when all this revival stuff started? You either had to know one of the rare few who played and sang the music, or you had to scour old shops for hard to find 78's with one or two songs by a particular artist. Now theres Folk Legacy, Yazoo, Rhino etc. There's the Smithsonian recordings in a variety of box sets. Harry Smiths anthology is out on CD.

So from one perspective the music is more alive than ever.