The International Journal of Traditional Arts

Editorial

2026-04-29T12:43:19+01:00

Experiences of accessing folk singing in England

2026-05-06T19:24:38+01:00

Folk singing in England today is dominated by people in a narrow demographic profile. Calls from within the folk scene for increased diversity have not yielded change. Existing literature suggests solutions from within the practice, but lacks insight into the perspectives of marginalised people and non-participants. Learning how to increase and diversify participation in folk singing is the Access Folk project’s goal. Stage one sought to understand where we are now, through the eyes of participants and non-participants, to ascertain the adaptations needed to facilitate their involvement. We have engaged with over a thousand people through four data collection projects: a survey, extended focus groups, a peer interview scheme, and artistic research. These findings will be used in stage two to develop potential solutions. Despite a desire for inclusivity, barriers persist, including events tailored to specific preferences and a lack of knowledge from non-singers about the activities and from organisers about the needs of those they want to attract. While many people feel accepted, both insiders and outsiders view the folk scene as potentially unwelcoming or unsafe for certain groups, highlighting a contradiction between the desire for diversity and existing structural or ideological limitations. Recognising and addressing these factors will be crucial for increasing accessibility and diversity in folk singing activities.

‘I’d better not sing that here’

2026-05-28T12:26:38+01:00

This article focuses on how amateur folk singers approach performing in different live music settings, particularly those outside their regular and familiar environments. The paper incorporates personal experience, a small sample of interviews with local singers in the East Midlands of England and observational data. The interview responses indicate a range of strategies being employed by singers to balance their preferred repertoire choices – especially when the preference is for traditional song – with the circumstances of the specific event. This strategic thinking may, it is argued, reflect underlying issues about definitions of and assumptions about folk music as a genre. The discussion suggests that the situations that confront singers are complex, combining implicit stereotypes about what folk singers do (or should) sing and the multiple features that create the totality of the live music event for performers and audiences. It could, indeed, be held that relatively little about a performance event is controllable by the performer themselves. This is particularly relevant when a singer is performing in an unfamiliar place to an unfamiliar audience. Lastly, the paper proposes that, notwithstanding the challenges posed by different environments and audiences, the unclear boundaries of what constitutes folk music may provide positive opportunities for communities and performers to repurpose folk repertoire for their own objectives.

Embracing the Melange

2026-05-28T12:34:30+01:00

This reflective paper discusses Irish traditional music festivals in Athens and the intermingling of Greek, Irish and British musical identities. Drawing on the author’s mixed heritage, the paper explores the concept of authenticity and the subjectivity of experience, and why formulating thoughts about diaspora, identity, community and music and the processes by which they come together is as much a personal exploration as it is of the thing you’re trying to study. The paper concludes that Athen’s Irish traditional music festivals function as catalysts for relational change, where musical identities can meet and develop in new directions.

What Are People Singing in Folk Song Clubs?

2026-05-28T12:50:17+01:00

There is a long-standing debate over the nature and definition of ‘folk music’. The Victorian and Edwardian collectors have been criticised for filtering the repertoires of their sources to promote class-based ideas of ‘the folk’. This reflective paper proposes an alternative perspective on the folk song repertoire by considering what is actually performed in folk clubs. The music performed in two clubs in the East Midlands was recorded and categorised by authorship and date of composition. A total of 1568 identifiable song performances were listed across a few years before and after the Covid-19 Pandemic. The analysis showed a very wide range of sources, dates, and kinds of music, with a very strong representation of post-World War 2 compositions, and self-written songs. Repertoire connected with 20th and 21st-century popular culture, sits alongside more ‘traditional’ material. Drawing on the repertoire analysis, the author suggests a few themes for what makes a song fit into the folk club format. He concludes that folk club music could be best understood as a form of vernacular culture based in conviviality, rather than conventional ideas of canonical “folk” or “traditional” music repertoires.

Access Issues in English Folk Singing Styles and Techniques

2026-05-31T08:59:44+01:00

In this reflective summary of one of the Access Folk 2023 Singposium roundtables, the event moderator Jessie Thompson draws on the contributions of panellists Frankie Armstrong, Kate Thompson and Paul Wilson to lay out some central views on folk singing style and technique. Although styles and techniques are not generally understood to be access issues, the panel used the framing of accessibility to refer to the ease with which a singer can participate in English folk singing. In most genres, mastering technique is the domain of professional singers. English folk singing is rooted in non-professional community singing. The accessibility of stylistic vocal information is therefore vital to encouraging participation, as a singer’s vocal choices and habits reinforce social connections to their communities (Diamond, 2011; Potter and Sorrell, 2012). The roundtable and this reflective paper begin a conversation about the process of English folk singing and experts’ opinions of these processes, with the intention of identifying key vocal choices and habits.

Rolling On

2026-05-31T09:02:00+01:00

‘Rolling On’ is a national touring project looking at the health of sessions and singarounds throughout the UK. Starting in 2018, a small team from the weekly session at the Plough and Fleece community pub in Horningsea, Cambridge started to venture further afield to experience at first hand what was going on. The session host and present author, Tony Phillips had won a songwriting competition with Rolling On, telling the story of community singing in local pubs since the 1700’s, the period in which the Plough and Fleece was built. Members of the Plough and Fleece session group have subsequently visited 234 different sessions and singarounds as at August 2023 from the lowlands of Scotland to the south coast of England, collecting stories from attendees as they go, adding a selection of stories, videos and interviews to the website. This reflective paper identifies several key themes emerging from the project including discussions on the difference between performance and song-sharing, the role of hospitality, age and ethnicity; and the paradigm of an established tradition of folksong and the creation of an emerging tradition through the inclusion of new writing and contemporary song.

Rosslyn Court in Margate

2026-05-31T09:05:27+01:00

This reflective paper describes the process of setting up a community folk venue in a deprived coastal area of Kent. The demographic of the area is described together with the background of the founders. Initial business considerations are briefly recounted in the context of modern management theory. The process of linking with the local community is described, first in practical terms, then with reference to art-led regeneration theory. Initial steps and early contacts are described as well as how initial setbacks, such as the Covid pandemic, were managed. The authors argue that it is possible to run a successful folk venue in a more inclusive and progressive way and encourages folk organisers to embrace a community focused approach with all its challenges and opportunities.