But folk music is continually spoken about in terms of regional, national or racial identity. If it isn't I have no argument. If it is it leaves nowhere for those who want to explore their local identity through in a traditional idiom without the interest of those who want to declaim what they're doing 'isn't folk'.
My point is people can decide for themselves where boundaries lie but there can be no institutionalised definition of those boundaries that doesn't undermine the prospect for a continuation or revival in the need for that common idiom. It uses language to cap the future potential of that music as effectively as an ex-mine is sealed. No-one can predict where common music will go or what societal changes might bring about its re-evaluation.

Having a running agenda about authenticity is priggish and proprietorial over a subject in which prigs and owners had no stake.