The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #108258   Message #2255929
Posted By: Gene Burton
07-Feb-08 - 10:20 AM
Thread Name: John Lennon - Folk Singer
Subject: RE: John Lennon - Folk Singer
"Folk music is the product of a musical tradition that has evolved through the process of oral transmission"..."...music that has been evolved...by a community uninfluenced by poular and arts music".

This being the case, it would follow that new folk songs can only be created in cultures where music playing/recording technology is wholly absent; and furthermore untouched by mass popular culture.

Um, I think that only leaves the interior of Papua New Guinea and maybe the remoter parts of the Amazon rainforest...not a very positive prognosis for the continued existence of a living folk tradition in the Western world!

I still prefer my definition...