If anything is worthy of 'preservation' as such, it's not 1954 'folk' but the culture of homemade music in pubs. Media imposes an increasingly unattainable idealised and fraudulent perfection upon the collective consciousness for anything that is deemed aesthetically jugeable. The 'songs' themselves are now preserved in aspic, no danger to them.

The ageing culture of the amateur music and song session, is however something worthy of support and promotion, as it holds something quite precious to the human community, and it does not (unlike most contemporary Capitalist newspeak modulated 'culture', have anything to do with the ever-present "consumer" who naturally predicates a provider of some "product"). People like me can just turn up and sing a song and we don't need a degree in musicology to do so. And nor do we expect a recording contract from Simon Cowell & international fame for our efforts.

That's not to suggest that song and singing has not ever been bartered or sold for a singer's sustenance throughout the history of human community, but the community value of non-professionals simply sharing their mutual enjoyment of music and song, deserves support considering the increasingly oppressive grip that media now has upon the collective 'folk' mind-set.

Mind you - Karaoke & Rap & other forms of autochthonous folk music abound, so I'm probably just idealising a specific *form* of eternally resurrected musical community sharing that I currently partake of... :)