Just some thoughts on what makes music folk music 1. Cultural expression A musical form specific to a culture, written & performed by the common people for the common people. It probably expresses the beliefs, ideas and everyday concerns of the culture. e.g. if a farmhand sings songs about farming to farmhands it's probably folk music. 2. A musical style Music using traditional rhythms, instruments and styles of presentation. 3. At the end of the day the common people will decide what contemporary stuff counts as folk music, It's the Music which the ordinary people of 2001 decide is good enough to spend time learning, singing to their friends and passing on to their children, which brings us back to paragraph 1