"Now how much fun would that be?"
It might be a bit more informative Les.
It would be a boring old world if we all agreed with each other.
"If the rules coincide with what you enjoy hearing then it means the whole evening might be bliss. "
Doesn't work like that Freddie - you put a label on your product to identify what you are promoting, whether it is to your taste or not.
Whether we like it or not, Folk song is a long identified, researched and recorded type of song - nobody "imposes" that fact, there is enough literature and recorded examples to make just that - a fact.
If the things that make folk songs folk are no longer viable or valid, than the term should be redefined if it is still going to be used.
I still maintain that the success of Irish traditional music is due to there being no (serious) doubt what the term 'traditional' means - I honestly long for the situation when British music can be almost guaranteed an at least two generation future, as has happened over here.
Jim Carroll