An ethnography of the St. Albans Folk Music Club

Abstract

The folksong (or "folk") club is the primary performance outlet of the recent British folksong revival, which began in the 1950's. Like North American coffeehouses, they provide a reasonably small and informal milieu for the performance of the various types of music labelled "folk." This thesis examines one such club, the St. Albans Folk Music Club, from the point of view of the people directly involved in its organization. In order to arrive at an insider's point of view, the methodology of ethnoscience was employed. The theoretical base of ethnoscience and the specific techniques used to gather data are discussed in the thesis. -- Revivalists are primarily a heterogeneous, urban, middle class group. Thus they are in clear contrast to the older concept of the "ideal folk society," defined as small, isolated, homogeneous, and nonliterate. However, in recent years this idealized notion of folk society has given way to the concept of the "folk group." A folk group is any group of people who, on the basis of some common bond, like religion, occupation or nationality, share traditions. Revivalists can be seen as a folk group sharing a number of traditions, including folk clubs. -- As there are few studies dealing with the British revival, the history and ideology of this movement are discussed in some detail. In order to acquaint the reader with the St. Albans Folk Music Club, its history, physical setting, and format are outlined. The remainder of the thesis is devoted to topics of particular importance to informants. These are: the role structure of the club; the classification of performers apart from their role within the club; the "atmosphere" or mood of the club during an evening, and the classification, selection and use of repertoire. The concluding chapter compares informants' ideology with that of other revivalists, as well as with informants' actual behavior. Some basic differences between the folksong classification systems used in the revival and in folklore studies are also outlined.