folk music = people (folk) music
('volk' from the german - as in volkswagen - peoplemobile)
more specifically, (and more importantly) 'a' people's music.
we, as computer users, internet dwellers, software dabblers - the
technologically inclined - are such a people, and this is our
'folk' music. music -of- the people. music -for- the people.
idealized as separate from the marketplace (although, this is, of
course, an illusion). but you get the idea...
the southern porch cliché is the internet for us. microsound.org is
our town meeting.
it has nothing to do w/ banjos. you can talk about bluegrass as a
genre, as an aesthetic, but not folk (although i understand the
popular misconception).
there are just as many folk traditions as there are 'folk.'
my roots, my folk, my people, have absolutely zero to do w/
anything bob dylan pre or post - the so-called mainstream folk
artists (there's a contradiction in terms...). i come from computer
culture. i come from growing up upper middle class, immersed in
technology and personal computers from day one, in a wealthy,
clean, safe, major north american metropolitan experience in the
70s, 80s and 90s.
my folk music is techno.
folk music is a discourse, not a sound.
and laptop music as 'folk music' is without a doubt an extremely
valid and useful way for describing and understanding the kinds of
grassroots (well, closer to astroturf, for sure) spread of our
culture and music via electronic channels, such as the internet.
global village music, perhaps.
there's lots of 'academic' writing on these kinds of ideas out
there for the academically inclined. but i'm retired from that kind
of self-inflicted pain now:)
my $0.02
g.