I don't think it's about the music dying so much as the people who are dead to it's existence. I think this moves in waves. I believe that in time there will absolutely be another revival of interest.


I see nothing wrong in learning songs from all over the world and looking other than your own neighborhood for musical interest. Traditionally, folk music has been a double-edged sword. It is vital, reflective of it's individual culture(s) but borders on xenophobia. Witness the reactionary bluegrass community today.

When collecting Serbian and Greek folk music, I ran into this kind of narrow thinking. "You guys are taking our music and cheapening it! It doesn't belong to you." As they use to say on Saturday Night Live "If it's not Scottish it's crap!"

Some songs in the Native American community are forbidden to be sung publicly for religious reasons.

Respecting this sacredness, at the same time, I lament it's provincial attitude amoung some of it's practitioners. Why shouldn't outsiders be let in? Who claims that folk music is so "precious" that it shouldn't be "defiled" by the singing and playing of strangers? Answer: Mostly folks with an academic bent.

I like mixed marriages, mixed cultures, mixed races, mixed music...it's far more interesting and likely to create jazz, blues, country music and other spectacular forms.

Solution: Treat all music with respect, understanding and with an intent to learn.

Frank