Ethnic or Folk?

Yes, I know there are lots of folk related groups, world music related groups, etc. When the original leader abdicated I volunteered to take over and see if I could do something a bit different and unique with this group. You asked some good questions, and know what? I don't know either. They're the same questions I've been asking myself. I think ethnic spreads beyond folk just a bit, there are a few artists I've connected that I would call ethnic, they have ethnic influences, but are not purely folk, though I've been hesitant to add a lot of stuff like viking metal, well maybe some of it is kind of ethnic, maybe... I like a couple Falkenbach songs but I don't know if I'd call them ethnic. :) So I'm just flying by the seat of my pants. I'll admit I've been rather conservative. One could make a case that rock & roll and even hip-hop is ethnic because it comes from the roots music of African Americans. Well I did add a bit of that roots music in the connections actually, there are a couple of prewar blues artists in there like Robert Johnson. Then there is the folk that I would be hesitant to call ethnic, the folk of Bob Dillan, Joan Baez, etc. Then again, Joan Baez at least sang quite a few ethnic tunes, in several languages. I think everyone probably has in their mind an idea of what is ethnic. Some of the stuff they're calling folk these days doesn't even fit in my view. What I've heard of New Weird America sounds to me more like abstract art than folk. Anyway, everyone is welcome to list anything in the artist connections thread that seems ethnic to you and I'll add it. It's your group, I'm just the guy with the keys. I didn't get much response early on so I just started looking at the top 50 artists of group members and picking what I thought would fit best, and much of that ended up being folk. So, I'm a folkie. :D So then I sort of created a feedback loop, because the new members coming in found us through those folkie connections lol. I also enjoy looking for rare undiscovered streamable stuff and have added a healthy dose of those artists too, as well as some artists you've recommended. Now we have 74 members, 166 artist connections, a section where you can find other groups that might interest you, and some active members who send great recommendations, so I haven't worried too much anymore about defining Ethnic, though I've been thinking about changing that overview text, it doesn't fit so well because lots of the connections are indeed western music. I hope more people will comment in this thread, I'd love to see what everyone thinks. It's nice to have a bit of friendly debate.

Thanks much for your comments Athelwolf, nicely put. Welcome to our little group.

Terminology is changing over time (see Terminology), so there's nobody out there who can define all these terms. I don't care about definitions of musical genres, I'm trying to hear as much music from different cultures as I can, which leads me to better understanding others and broadening my own tolerance. And if you dig deep enough, you'll see that all primitive music is very similar (compare Pygmi and Bushmen chants from Africa, nomadic Taiga people songs from Russia, Navajo and Apache songs). The differences are growing as things are getting more complicated and consequently Spanish flamenco doesn't express the same feelings as Greek rebetiko, Porugese fado or Tanzanian wagogo songs but we can communicate with either of them. So let's open up our minds and listen to ethnic or folk or world music as much as we can for our's sake!