Hi,

In a way I see the computers and the net as saving folk music, at least music made by the people.

What the music industry has done is to turn music into a consumer item, not something you do your self or partisipate in. Off the net you can now download mixers etc., have your own MP3 sites, contact other musicians on the other side of the world. Where I work some of the young people, who have never taken part in any musical activity other than going clubbing are now playing around with sampling on bits of kit they have down loaded.

In a funny way even the TV shows like Pop Star helps as it shows that "stars" were once normal people before the likes of Pete Waterman & Nasty Nigel get their claws into them.

Folk music is not what it once was and thankfully never will be, but I feel a lot more confident about music of the people surviving than I did a few years.

Onward and upward

Chris