The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #119490 Message #2593472
Posted By: Joe Offer
20-Mar-09 - 02:08 PM
Thread Name: What makes it a Folk Song?
Subject: RE: What makes it a Folk Song?
Well, I've learned that I don't really want to go to "folk" concerts any more, because they're all that singer-songwriter stuff. I have to go to "traditional folk" concerts - many, maybe most of the songs I hear have been written in the last half-century, but they're in a traditional, mostly story-telling style - and they can be sung by anyone, not just by the songwriter.
Definitions help because they define the market. They help audiences find the music they want, and they help performers find audiences that will appreciate them.
That being said, any old definition of traditional folk music will work pretty well for me. The definitions presented here all have more-or-less the same elements, and I think we all know more-or-less what we're talking about.
I'm happy with the 1954 definition, although I suppose it does not include most of the "traditional-style" music I listen to.
-Joe-