It seems to me that anything with acoustic instruments is called folk. I know it is not right but that is what I run up against alot. I play all kinds of different styles of music. My instrument of choice is an acoustic guitar. I swear I can get up and play nothing but rock gat off stage and somone will say something about it being bluegrass or folk. I am not sure if the general public doesn't know what folk or not. I think traditional is a good term for it. I always point out traditional songs when I play them. Alot of times I will give a short history of the song before playing it. When I am around home I like to tell the people about the songs that are more local. It gives them a connection to the song and hopefully it will stick in thier heads a little better. Of course I say that because I want the old songs to live not as a way of marketing myself. I want to be clear about that. As far as the Folk Metal movement that someone mentioned earlier I have listened to some of it a few years back. I sometimes get on wikipedia and look at the different musical genres trying to find something I have never head before. That is a good way to find styles you may otherwise miss. I came across that genre one time and checked it out. Don't stone me or anything but I thought it was pretty cool not something I would really get into. It reminded me of Norwegian Death Metal with fiddles lol. What I heard (and I haven't listened to tons of artists from this style) takes the term folk from an idealogical point and from using traditional instruments mixed with the Metal. I don't really see much Folk in it other than that. If there are some better examples than what I heard let me know and I will check it out. I missed the whole Wagner thing. I know the socialism aspect and yeah he was Hitlers fav (He saw Tristan over 7 times alone). Are you saying Wagner was folk? If so would KMFDM and bands that use Wagner as sampling in thier music Folk? If so I guess it would be industrial/folk/metal/NGM lol just kidding but someone clarify a little on the Wagner thing. I have been in a big rush all week and just glanced over the posts so if I got something wrong let me know. Speaking of rush I have to go. Check back later
cya
JT