I have heard that in many of the folk clubs in the British Isles, one is not allowed to sing—or at least one is severely frowned upon if one sings—songs that are not from his or her own background. In other words, if you're not Scottish, you're not allowed to sing a Scots song, or if you are an American singer, you'd better not attempt to sing anything other than American songs. Or so I was told some years ago by a reliable source. I don't know if it's still this way, but from what I read here, it would seem so.

So—just how far does this ban extend? I was born in California and have lived most of my life in the Pacific Northwest. Does that mean that I can't sing songs from New England or the Southern Appalachians? I have to restrict my repertoire to California mining songs or Northwest logging songs?

It appears to me that this is the sentiment that is being expressed by a number of people here.

I absolutely refuse to be restricted in this manner. If a song appeals to me, no matter where it comes from, I will learn it and sing it. And as someone who has spent a good portion of his life singing for paying audiences, I feel that it is my responsibility to those audiences to do the best job I can. And that includes putting any given song into its proper context, which sometimes requires the use of a dialect or accent. If the "I" of a particular song is Scottish, or Irish, or an American cowboy, using that vocabulary and style of speech while singing the song lends to the verisimilitude of the song. This is what an actor does when playing a part, and it's part of the art of performing. An aid the listeners' "willing suspension of disbelief." Yes, I see it as a form of acting. I don't see that there is a significant difference, especially when performing before an audience, between singing and acting.

Incidentally, I do sing a few Caribbean songs. With the appropriate dialect. I don't see how it's possible to sing these songs without adopting the dialect. And I've never had anyone roll their eyes when I sing them.

I don't, however, lather it on too thick. This is a characteristic of doing it badly. But I definitely do it.

But once again:    If you can't do it well, then don't do it!

So, with the wide variety of songs I do, I guess I wouldn't go over too well in British folk clubs, if things are still the way I was told they were. That's okay. I would just go to listen then. There are plenty of other places for me to sing.

Don Firth

P. S. Serendipitously enough, this morning on a locally produced program on KUOW-FM (my local NPR affiliate), Steve Scher spent a hour interviewing Derek Bickerton, a Professor Emeritus of Linguistics. Prof. Bickerton made a number of interesting comments. For example, "An accent or dialect acts as a badge of identity." [An actor or singer, by using the appropriate accent or dialect, identifies himself of herself with the character being portrayed—DF.]

In discussing the point at which a dialect has grown essentially unintelligible to speakers of its parent language and becomes a separate language, Steve Scher asked, "What is the difference between a dialect and a language?" Prof. Bickerton chuckled and responded, "A language is a dialect with an army and a navy."