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"It was Louis Armstrong (or Leadbelly, depending on whom you believe) who came up with the famous final word on the definition of 'folk music': "It's ALL folk-music... I ain't never heard no horse sing..." The quote has been repeated ad nauseaum thourghout the years, but it has not prevented strenuous debate about the meaning of folk music in every country in which it is performed. Which is every country in the world. "Music of the people, by the people and for the people" was the neat descriptor favoured by early British folklorists, giving it a social and political context free of the styilistic parameters that tend to tag it in modern days. |
| "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music" |