When was english folk music first played?
What do YOU understand by the term “English Folk Music”? I reckon folk music is no more than the music of the common people. Louis Armstrong once famously said “All music is folk music. I ain’t never heard a horse sing” or something very similar, and he has a good point. Where do you draw the line and say “This is folk music but that isn’t folk music.” I think there is a distinction between folk music and, say, classical music but I couldn’t say where the dividing line falls. So, if folk music is just the music of the people, maybe about the eternal verities of daily life, death, love, hardship, earning a living, or about humour and celebration, then your question comes down to “when did people first make music in England?”. If music is a combination of rhythm and melody then it was perfectly possible for people to have been performing folk music from the moment there were people in the area now called England … whenever that was. Perhaps if you were to refine your question, you migh
