How authentic is that guitar Dick?

(Can of worms here?)


... a flagship for ENGLISH TRADITIONAL MUSIC doesn't make much sense to me as a descriptor of the EFDSS.

The EFDSS, as I have stressed on Mudcat over the last decade +, is a membership organisation and reflects the wishes of its members. It really has no other function, despite what the rest of the world might want to wish on it.

As it happens, the members' wishes often reflect the wishes of the folk community at large and when resources permit, these wishes are rendered reality. The ones I listed above are an example.

It is not the role of the EFDSS management to tell people how or how not to play folk music, traditional or otherwise. The membership of the society will all have different ideas of how folk should be played, sung, danced, acted, presented or whatever. The Society can use its resources to enable these diverse ideas.

Hence, some people will want to sing songs in choirs and others will want to resample them and mix and remix them dance style. Whatever.

Enabling the ideas of the young would be a high priority. Enabling the participation of a larger number of people like a choir would be a cost effective (and popular) action.

Judging people on their 'authenticity' would be completely counterproductive and also possibly counter to the wishes of the membership. However, accepting recorded performances into the archive and keeping them so that future academics can tie themselves into complicated knots trying to judge their authenticity might well be within the Society's remit.

(Note: These are my own opinions and not those of the organisation.)