"By the way - Ewan MacColl didn't "write" folk songs"
not intentionally but some of them have become that, which is in my opinion a compliment to his song writing skills.
however I asked Jim a question in an attempt to be fair, since he will not answer the question, I have to assume from his statement, "macColl encouraged people to compose songs USING TRADITIONAL FORMS", so it is not unreasonable to assume that he did not encourage song writers to perform at his club who did not use traditional forms.
I wonder what his reaction would have been if John Lennon had turned up and sang Imagine[ a song that has incidentally inspired millions of people to question the warmongers of this world]
and still we do not know what this term tradtional form means, does it mean that songs have to be written in a question or answer patternlike tradtional songs "Swan swims so bonny" or is it meaning the use of only 3 particular modes.
whichever way it is imposing an inibition on the creativity of song writers, it is restriting them to working within a limited perameter.
why is Imagine less of a folk song than masters of war?