Shit - is that March already? How the time flies in the grim grip of Winter, though by now I dare say we're all warming to the thoughts of spring... Lots of lambs & snowdrops abounding but I'll hang on until the equinox before allowing my spirits to rise too high.

Yeah, Traditional Song, which is at the core of my folk faith as I don't believe I've ever made too much a secret about. Nor yet have I argued that all is one, though what I have suggested is that folk these days would appear to be defined more by context than it is by content. This is more of anthropological observation than it is a hard and fast definition - that it appears that all music can be folk if played in designated folk context (refer you to the owld rag bag for a summary of genres I've experienced). I must admit I'm torn here between my sunny objective open-mindedness (where I'm quite happy for people to do anything they wish to do) and my shadowy subjective narrow-mindedness (where I'm only truly happy when traditional songs are being sung generally without accompaniment). This is my Jekyll & Hyde Folk Duality; I try to be a better person, I really do, arguing for accommodation and inclusivity, but deep down I'm a divisive little shit who would like to see the folk clubs cleansed & segregated & rated accordingly.

Time was, I could find enough Traditional Singarounds in Filthy Back Rooms of Unreconstructed Public Houses to slip therein unnoticed with my pipe & bowl and just listen. If anyone asked if I sang, I'd shake my head because truth to tell I'd rather listen than sing - especially if the singers are better than I am & have done their work. Time was this was invariably the case. I do not see myself as a Folk Singer per se, rather a Philosophical Experimental Musician & Storyteller who has been seduced into singing the Old English-Speaking Popular Songs & Ballads out of a feeling that if I don't sing them, who the hell else is going to? Few of my generation (born 1961) that's for sure.

I have been singing these songs for 34 years or so now, but I'd still rather listen than sing, much less have to perform the bloody things by way of a floor spot. I am a performer; I get paid good money to perform and my performances include many Old English-Speaking Popular Songs & Ballads alongside Folk Tales from the Indo-European Tradition. However I don't perform in singarounds & on singers nights; and I don't expect to hear performances either; what I expect to hear are Traditional Folk Songs sung with honesty and humility - songs sung well & with due deference to (and familiarity with) the source. Leave the egos at the door, my primary interest is in the song, not the singer, who is merely a medium for something of far greater interest to me than they'll ever be. There are exceptions to this, such as my wife, whom I met in a folk club and who has become so much more interesting to me than the songs I first heard her singing 17 years ago.

*

The other issue here is definition. I am not just a Folky / Traddy; I am a lover of music, pretty much all music (if you want the specifics go to my Myspace Page and look at the Influences & Inspirations bit) but above all I love the human context of music and the history & diversity thereof. I don't know of any music that can't be accounted for as being a traditional music, or yet a folk music according to the 1954 Definition. I point to the objectives of the International Council for Traditional Music in support of this, and also point out that the 1954 Definitive speaks not of genre but of derivation. This does not mean that all is one however, other than in the ironic sense that is The Horse Definition. In this sense I see The Folk Myth / Faith as a SECONDARY & ENTIRELY EXTRANEOUS & ERRONEOUS interpretation of the phenomena of the Old English-Speaking Popular Songs & Ballads by people who were not the working-class singers and makers of such material, but the bourgeois collectors of it. They are the academic taxonomists & the taxidermists to whom we owe a lot, but we don't we them everything. Traditional English-Speaking Folk Songs are not different according to their derivation - they are different because all Genres of Human Music are different. This is the nature of music. The problem being that whilst other musics are living genres defined by those within them; Folk Song (as in the Old English-Speaking Popular Songs & Ballads) is a dead genre that has been defined by those who collected it.

*

Please note, this is just my opinion - it is not an attack. Mudcat is a discussion forum after all. Discussion is good, insults somewhat less so, but understandable when passions run high, as they are wont to round here - but it could be a lot worse. I'd rather be slated for perceived idiocy & gobbledygook-ness that be the recipient of virtual ((((((hugs))))) to which my response would have to be a virtual !!!!!kick up the arse!!!!! whatever the circumstances.

Respect in the Excellence we Share in Simply Being Alive.

S O'P