"However if it encourages some people to look deeper into the topic that is excellent."
I go along with you to a point Peter, but if a newbie enters a scene that can't or refuses to discus what the term is and brushes it aside as "stupid rules", it is difficult to see how they are going to move on
My concept of 'folk' originally was Miss Whatist hammering 'Cherry Ripe' out on the upright in school
I've been gathering all the old scripts of talks Pat and I have given over the years - I was boggled they number over fify, maily to schools, colleges and universities
I don't remember us agreeing to plan it but I realised that we chose what we talked about and our examples based on who we were talking to
I remember the quality being sometimes varied, but I can never remember on that didn't work at some level
Recently I've been working on Irish Child ballads - a fairly new field in Ireland
I don't attempt to define a ballad to someone unfamiliar - much easier to employ Jean Richies suggestion and ask them "Do you know Barbara Allen"?" - most people have heard it - it's a great 'in' to the subject
Same with folk song in general - you have to do it in stages
Ireland is easy ans it has an extremely rich and far more recent tradition and many of the songs represent a 'national pride' in what is actually a new nation.
Travellers are the same - they are embracing many of their songs as part of their identity and their future becomes more precarious
These songs are part of our existence, national and cultural
You don't have to convince the people of that - presented the right way, they'll accept them as entertainment
You need to convince the art organisations who hold control the purse string, or the education organisation, or the 'arty' side of the media
Remember the wonderful Bert Lloyd Programmes the Beeb used to broadcast, or the amount of coverage fiven to folk on programmes like 'Folk on Two'?
You really are not going to win that back if you water down your product
Jim