Granny comes closest among responses so far.

But, It whatever it is it is certainly classical music. It's just that it's the people's classical music - what folk's acturally sing, like in their kitchens and on the porch, or in ceremonies, political rallies, anywhere, and if they really sing bad, there's always the shower.

It's world-wide and it's no particular muscial style and it's been around since creation, certainly since before musical notation.

With few exceptions, you don't get paid to sing it, with even fewer exceptions you don't much to sing it.

Mudcatters come closer to getting it right than most, in that they treat blues is a slice of the folk pie. All of what I wrote above would apply to blues.

Some would certainly agree, although it sounds crude, that it's like diarea. Meaning that you can only hold it in so long, then its got to come out. Its an art form that satisfies a need to express just like with canvas and brush.

Some think of humans as the industrious, brainy creatures with opposible thumbs, the tool users or tool makers. I disagree; humans are the communicative creatures. It's our mouths, not our thumbs, where our basic characters manifest.

Check out those who are deaf or mute - how cleverly they compensate. Communication is the most intense human compulsion. Think about solitary confinement; that most basic prison discipline. Folk music, for those with music in their genes, in whatever form, satisfies that fundamental need to to express.

When I see paintings on the walls of caves in southern France, I wonder what vocal arts may have accompanied.