It's going to be very difficult to discuss this without veering off into yet another "what is folk?" debate, which I for one would prefer to avoid. On the one hand I agree with what Richard Bridge says, and yet...there is an expectation on the part of an audience that music played in a folk club will sound a certain way - that is what I meant by 'style'. The parameters may be wider at concerts and festivals, and of course are often pushed, and quite rightly, by musicians trying to explore what can be done with traditional music. However in this context the term is used as a pigeonhole to try to place a particular category of music so that people know which events to go to, and which rack to visit in the record store. Like any genre, it is easier to recognise than describe.

However that is a distraction from my real point. Even for people of what we might call 'English heritage', only a small minority are exposed to 'folk music' of any kind and even fewer relate to it and become actively interested. Only a tiny minority of white English musicians choose to express themselves through folk music, however you want to define it. It seems to me that people of other ethnic backgrounds, even those established in this country for several generations, are even less likely to have either come across it or feel any connection with it. To my mind, it is entirely understandable that they mainly choose other genres.

It is also the case that, despite Mumford and Sons, folk is usually seen as terminally uncool. Why would someone choose to define themselves as a 'folk singer' if they have the opportunity to be labelled as something which might actually bring them fame and fortune?

I don't believe it is the role of the folk scene or its institutions to seek out performers of other styles of music, and especially not on the grounds of their ethnic background, which strikes me as patronising at best. Folk music, like any other genre, needs to serve its audience, and its audience wants folk music - if they want to listen to something else, there is no shortage of other venues.

Nobody is denying BAME musicians their voice, but for most of them the folk scene is not where they want to make it heard. For the very small number that do, it would be naive to imagine that there is no racism even on the folk scene but neither do I believe there are any barriers.