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"...one may deduce a rule that folk songs
do not pass from one language to another."Breandán Breathnach, musicologist (1971)
"... if we are willing to bend our definitions of folk and traditional music
to include such things as popular music, jazz, and urban folk song,
we may be in a position to investigate the kind of music
which is rapidly replacing, in its social function,
the folk and traditional music of the past and present."Bruno Nettl, musicologist , University of Illinois, (1972)
"...Rock by definition is a rootless music,
unlike the various folk and semi-folk traditions it is made out of."Dave Laing, English writer (1972)
"The term 'folk music' was invented by nineteenth-century scholars
To describe the music of the peasantry, age-old and anonymus.
Nowadays it covers such a multitude of sins as to be almost meaningless.
To me it means homemade-type music played mainly by ear,
arising out of older traditions but with a meaning for today."Pete Seeger ("The Incompleat Folksinger" 1972)
"Folk music is a democratic art in the true sense of the word."Maud Karpeles, collector of folk songs ("An Introduction to English Folk Song", 1973)
"As long as men continue to struggle for a better world,
they will need songs to encourage them in that struggle."Edith Fowke ( Canadian folklorist, colector, author )
and Joe Glazer ( labor troubadour ) in: "Songs of work and protest",1973)
"[Donal 0' Sullivan] was a first-rate scholar
and he had a sensitive perception of the aesthetic qualities
of folksong and of its value in the life of today."Maud Karpeles, Hon. President, International Folk Music Council ("Yearbook of the IFMC", 1973)
"The folk music revival in this country
seems to have been built and fostered on misconceptions.
For a start it was not started or perpetuated
by the working classes, who to this day
are blissfully unaware of it's existence."Dave Arthur, ("Folk Music Journal", 1974)
"Ever since the Battle of Kinsale in 1601,
there has been a constant interchange of songs
between Ireland and Britain"Seán O'Baoill, Irish song collector (1974)
"As a folk collector I have found that folksinging has survived most
successfully in those areas where local collections
have not been made and published."Peter Kennedy, folk song collector ("Folk songs of Britain and Ireland", 1975)
"... the older generation of traditional singers invariably sang
the songs without instrumental accompaniment;
and this is perhaps the ideal way of presenting them."Maud Karpeles, folk song collector ("The Crystal Spring", 1975)
"Folk music has to leave the museum and come out
to the people; only then it can live on."Sigbjørn Bernhoft, legendary Norwegian folk fiddler (about 1975)
"Without the story, the song is lost."Joe Heany ( 1919-1984 ), Irish singer (about 1975)
"Folklorists have been puzzled by the fact
that the post-war folk revival has achieved so much more
than other revivals in terms of mass acceptance;..."Karl Dallas, (slieve notes "The electric muse", 1975)
Different versions of a folk song may have different titles.
What is the title of one version may be the first line of another."Patricia Pate Havlice ("Popular song index", 1975)
".. we didn't even know the term 'folk club'.
It didn't exist."Harry Boardman, the first who opened a club in Manchester in 1954 ("Folk Review", 1975)
"The little fishing village of Doolin,
on the Atlantic beaten coast of north west Clare,
is today one of the most significant
storehouses of Irish folk traditions."Gearóid O hAllmhuráin, (liner notes to "Micho Russell, Traditional Country Music of County Clare", 1976)
"Regardless of the definition accepted by each of us,
the lifeblood of folk music remains unchanged - people."Kristin Baggelaar & Donald Milton, ("The Folk Music Encyclopaedia", 1976)
"... I think that folk music has had a continuous popularity.
It is not like a lightning bolt. It's here, it's sunlight, it stays."Oscar Brand, American folk singer and host of WNYC 's Folksong Festival (1977)
"... Folk music should include any kind of music that folks sings or like.
If you grew up listening to Beethoven, and whistling his tunes,
that should be considered folk music as well..."Arlo Guthrie, American folk performer, (1977)
"Every state and country in the world has its history and its folklore,
not to mention its folk music and song."Mary Hardy, writer, broadcaster and music journalist (1978)
"The view of the folksong as a rural and old, and therefore dying, art
remains common to this day."Wayne D. Shirley ("Introduction to Anglo-american ballads", 1978)
"In it's natural state, folk song is een oral art,
not a written one."A.L. Lloyd, doyen of British folk-music scholars ("Folk music in School", 1978)
"The great strength of songs and ballads lies in their ability
to express the views, reactions, and emotions of ordinary people,
in a distinctive and memorable idiom."Roy Palmer, teacher and writer ("Folk music in School", 1978)
"...folk music has as important a place in British culture
as our poems, novels and plays."Michael Pollard, teacher and writer ("Folk music in School", 1978)
"...folk music and particulary folk songs often seemed to be used
for teaching of almost every subject except music itself."Jack Dobbs, Director of Musical Studies, Darlington College ("Folk music in School", 1978)
"Not the least of the virtues of folk song
is that it can bring a breath of sweetness and light into
parts of the world too long regulated by too many people
who look as though they never want to break into a song,
not even in the bathroom."Geoffrey Summerfield, university teacher and poet ("Folk music in School", 1978)
"The main aim of the folk singer is to communicate a story,
not to make beautiful noises."Sandra Kerr, singer, song-writer and teacher ("Folk music in School", 1978)
"Of course, all songs have writers, authors, composers, what you will.
Even if Homer were not written by Homer
it must have been written by someone."Roy Palmer, teacher and writer ("A Ballad History of England", 1979)
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