The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #58273 Message #2602342
Posted By: MikeofNorthumbria
01-Apr-09 - 12:47 PM
Thread Name: Folk Music Tradition, what is it?
Subject: RE: Folk Music Tradition, what is it?
Tradition ...what it it?
Well, for me, the tradition is mostly in the process, not the product.
Whenever people make music for themselves, or for their families, friends and neighbours (plus any casual passers-by), in exchange for no more than a little appreciation and perhaps a free drink, then that's Folk Music. Whatever the origins of the songs they sing, or the style in which they sing them.
On the other hand, whenever somebody performs for a paying audience and gets paid real money for doing it, then in my humble opinion what they're doing is Show Business - even if what they are delivering is guaranteed 100% traditional folk.
Just for the record, I don't have any grudge against Show Business and those who earn their living by it - good luck to all of them. And I'm not arguing that Folk Music is objectively "better" than Show Business, just a different activity which fulfils a different need.
Wassail!
than