What is a folk song - thge heretical view

Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2003 00:18:07 +1000
Newsgroups: rec.music.folk
Size: 1,896 bytes

Hi
Reading the thread on "What is a folk song?", the popular definition
seems way too restrictive for me.
In protest :-) I am jotting down some attributes.
In these words, I use my own definition for "folk" as a noun. a. Folk are people b. Folk are local people (to wherever you are speaking of). c. Folk are moderately typical of (wherever you are speaking of).
obviously, from b and c you can infer that "folk" in Brooklyn might not
be the same as folk in Gnome, Alaska, nor like folk in Kenya.
You cannot, realistically use "folk" as a universal description, as it
depends much on localisation.
So: a folk song is: 1. A song that might meaningful to the local folk. i. It is probably in a language understood by the locals ii. It's topic matter is meaningful to the locals iii. Its style is not so complex or exclusive that locals cannot
keep up. If you perform a song and the local punters tap their feet and join
in the chorus -
Now a "Powerful Folk Song" is a folk song that profoundly changes
people's emotional states. i. They might cheer, or cry, or start to break furniture. ii. Play the Battle Hymn of the Republic to a bunch of US marines
ready for despatch - do not stand if front of them as the will march
straight over you,
Now the sort of criteria that I' proposing are (generally) hard to nail
down and messy to work with - but I think they head us towards an
interesting and vibrant are of music.
I was going to offer my $0.02 worth, but I believe that with the correct
exchange rate, that would leave *you* owing *me*, so lets not.
--
Michael J Smith Things with strings and frets Blowwey pipe thingies of Wood, PVC or extruded steel Household items that collide with interesting percussive noises. Still completely unable to shatter crystal by the purity of my
voice.
michaeljatoptushome.com.au