Don Firth

You would have liked tonight's (technically yesterday's...) Brighton SIngers' Folk Club singaround.    see: myspace.com/fyviesfolk   

Visiting us tonight - a harmony band singing traditional English folk songs - and the average age of the band well under 50! Lots of hope for the future I'd say.

Last December, another of our local singers' club sessions (Brighton Cellarfolk) booked a brilliant 5 piece harmony band from 30 miles along the coast. Again people come together from outside the folk scene "establishment' to enjoy our rich unaccompanied harmony folk heritage - taking it to wider and younger audiences.

Slightly off thread but...... if you're worried about what you might have read about the folk scene in England, don't be. It is, as it always has been, extremely diverse. Websites make it easier than ever to find what you might like and what might not be to your taste.

My highly personal opinion is that traditional English folk is on the up. My examples above show people a lot younger than me taking a keen interest in traditional folk.

Disagreement in my experience of mudcat debates seems to be between the camp that sees Folk as the consumer product - all else is inferior/not valid; and those who prefer folk as it should be- folk sharing folk songs. It's nothing new, indeed some say it goes back to the indignation the commercialised (albeit 'not-for-profit' commercialised) folk scene had for Ewan McColl and his London based Singers' Club of the 1960's.

Folk has survived this antagonism for 40+ years and mudcat will also show you that both SIngers' Clubs and Concert Clubs are all doing reasonably well and should have no problem surviving the likely depression.

Ian Fyvie