Just what is
folk?
Traditional?
Acoustic?

The Ra debate
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continues.

GARY GRAFF

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is one of those intriguing
questions, a mystery that
falls just this side of what
Noah did with the animal drop-
pings.
What is folk music?
You can find enough defini-
tions floating around to fill a
page in Webster's Dictionary.
To strict traditionalists, it's
songs that have been handed
down from generation to
generation, never record-
ed or even performed for
a paying audience.
To another faction, it's music
that reflects the indigenous val-
ues and characteristics of a par-
ticular society. By that
reckoning, rap is closer to folk
than James Taylor or Peter,
Paul & Mary.
To less discriminating ears,
folk music is made b_y any
acoustic guitar-toting singer-
songwriter.
Janis Ian, one of the head-
liners at the 19th Ann Arbor
Folk Festival on Saturday, Jan.
27, has her own definition.
."I think folk music is any mu-
sic people can sing," she says.
"You don't have to have the
same level of accomplishment
as in classical music, or even in
jazz. Pop music is folk music as
much as early medieval madri-
gals are folk music. It's music
people make."
In recent years, some people
have adopted a view that folk
may actually be an outmoded
expression. "Folk's a bit of a
problematic word," says British
songsmith Richard Thompson.
"I don't think folk exists as a

Iris Dement: This
new folk talent will
appear at the 19th
Ann Arbor Folk
Festival Saturday,
Jan. 29.

PHOTO BY MARK TU CKE R

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