Folk process

Lore & Background

The phrase 'folk process' was originally coined by musicologist Charles Seeger, father of folk singer Pete Seeger, but the underlying concept goes back to 1907, when Cecil Sharp observed that the transmission of folk songs and their forms resulted from three factors: continuity, variation, and selection. These factors were expanded on in 1954 by the International Folk Music Council, which defined folk music as the product of a musical tradition evolved through oral transmission, shaped by continuity linking present with past, variation from creative impulse, and selection by the community determining which forms survive.

The transformation and reinterpretation of received material is central to the folk process. For example, the traditional Irish lament 'Siúil A Rúin' is sometimes speculatively linked to the American Revolutionary War-era song 'Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier,' but this connection is not universally accepted in mainstream scholarship, and the American song is widely documented as dating from the late 18th century, not a 19th-century adaptation. Similarly, the Child ballad 'Matty Groves' and the American folk song 'Shady Grove' are distinct in narrative and tune, with no established direct lineage supported by mainstream folklore scholarship.

Through the folk process, subjects of folk song and narrative are adapted to suit the times; lyrics can be added or removed, and parts no longer understood can be re-interpreted or discarded. The result is new folklore that the next generation preserves in its new form. The process became problematic when it began to operate on copyrighted commercial products, and when mass culture appropriated folk narrative and music, distributing them via mass media as newly canonical versions.

Reader's Guide

The folk process is significant because it explains how folklore evolves within communities, balancing continuity with creative variation and communal selection. It distinguishes folk music from composed popular music that remains unchanged when taken over by a community, emphasizing that re-fashioning and re-creation give folk music its character. The concept highlights the tension between oral tradition and mass culture, as seen in the case of 'Scarborough Fair,' where Simon and Garfunkel asserted sole authorship of a traditional song, contrasting with earlier generations' acceptance of communal ownership. The Internet and digital media have accelerated the folk process by enabling consumers to copy, alter, and select bits of both folk and mass culture. Historically, mass culture and folk culture have cross-pollinated, as with the broadside 'The Unfortunate Lad' becoming the cowboy standard 'Streets of Laredo' and the jazz standard 'St. James Infirmary Blues.' The folk process remains a key lens for understanding how tradition and innovation interact in cultural transmission.

Did You Know?

• The phrase 'folk process' was originally coined by musicologist Charles Seeger.
• The underlying concept goes back to 1907, when Cecil Sharp identified continuity, variation, and selection as key factors.
• The International Folk Music Council expanded on these factors in 1954.
• The American Revolutionary War-era song 'Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier' is sometimes speculatively linked to the Irish lament 'Siúil A Rúin,' but this derivation is not universally accepted in mainstream scholarship.