FOLK-SONGS.
Sir,-L. Etherington raises an interesting point. The beautiful love lyric "Drink to me only" is, of course, not a folk-song at all. It cannot strictly be said that anyone ever writes a folk-song, as such; they are the songs that have arisen with constant repetition among an illiterate people; they commemorate some person or event that has laid hold of popular imagination and has been, as one might say, gradually woven into their present form by some singer or reciter, much as the old traditions of Maori and other races have been served.The very title, coming from the Anglo-Saxon "Folc," a people or nation, at once places the folk-song in a class by itself; it is not a solo effort, but the combined song-spirit of a people expressing itself for ages, perhaps, without a written medium. It, would. be interesting to hear what. a Brains Trust had to say about folk-songs, their origin and persistence. :
MALCOLM
FORRESTER
(National Park).
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19480702.2.14.7
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
New Zealand Listener, Volume 19, Issue 471, 2 July 1948, Page 5
Word count
Tapeke kupu
160FOLK-SONGS. New Zealand Listener, Volume 19, Issue 471, 2 July 1948, Page 5
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Material in this publication is protected by copyright.
Are Media Limited has granted permission to the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa to develop and maintain this content online. You can search, browse, print and download for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Are Media Limited for any other use.
Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
Log in