folk song, music of anonymous composition, transmitted orally. The theory that folk songs were originally group compositions has been modified in recent studies. These assume that the germ of a folk melody is produced by an individual and altered in transmission into a group-fashioned expression. National and ethnic individuality can be seen in folk music, even in the case of songs transplanted from one country to another. There is scarcely any people whose folk song is wholly indigenous, and among notable cases of transplanting is the English ballad found in various parts of the United States. Many of these were collected in the late 19th cent. by Francis Child and in the early 20th cent. by Cecil Sharp. In addition, many American folk songs are of other European or African origin. Americans occasionally consider as folk songs certain songs of traceable authorship, e.g., "Dixie."

Interest in folk music grew during the 19th cent., although there were earlier scholars in the field, such as Thomas Percy whose Reliques, a collection of English ballad texts, appeared in 1765. Sir Walter Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (3 vol., 1803) is a major source on Scottish ballads. Béla Bartók did outstanding work in notating the folk music of central Europe early in the 20th cent., and before him the Russian nationalist composers made use of their country's folk music. Conversely, folk song often shows the influence of formally composed music; this is particularly true of 17th- and 18th-century European folk song.

The collection and transcription of folk music was greatly facilitated by the invention of the phonograph and tape recorder. Using this equipment, John and Alan Lomax gathered many varieties of American folk songs from various cultural traditions throughout much of the 20th cent. Since the early 1950s folk music has become an especially significant influence and source for much popular vocal and instrumental music. Folksingers such as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger performed traditional songs and wrote their own songs in the folk idiom, an approach that was later used and modified by Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and others.

See also ballad; chantey; spiritual.

folk music: see folk song.

folk medicine, methods of curing by means of healing objects, herbs, or animal parts; ceremony; conjuring, magic, or witchcraft; and other means apart from the formalized practice of medical science. In nearly all ancient and preliterate societies disease and death were and are attributed to the workings of malevolent beings, spirits, or forces. Complex rituals and medicinal applications were devised to heal these ills. Many such cures coincide with what modern research has proved effective. Taking castor oil has been advocated by sailors for centuries and is known today to be the source of essential vitamins; the age-old successful application of bread mold and soil fungi to infected areas corresponds to the antibiotic practice of modern medicine. There remains a widespread belief in the curative powers of certain plants or animal parts shaped or colored like the diseased part of the body: hence, red poppies for blood disorder, spotted plants for skin eruptions, and trefoil plants for heart trouble. Preventive medicine and ritual to produce sickness in one's enemies have also been popular. Native Americans of South and Central America, among others, perform purification ceremonies and hold festivals for cleansing and to ward off the evil eye. Medicine men, shamans, and other doctors credited with magical powers generally massage, draw liquid off by suction, or blow upon the diseased area. They recite ancient formulas and incantations to cure or banish illness, both physical and mental. In all cultures most medicinal lore is handed down by word of mouth from generation to generation. When written down, it formed the beginnings of medical science. In the United States in the 1960s and 70s, there occurred an enormous expanding interest in folk remedies, herbal medicines, vitamins, and so-called health foods and organic foods free of chemical pesticides and other pollutants. As a result the production of such foods became a growing business enterprise. A new surge in the sales of herbal remedies to treat minor ailments and enhance health took place in the 1990s. See also herbal medicine.

folk high school, type of adult education that in its most widely known form originated in Denmark in the middle of the 19th cent. The idea as originally conceived by Bishop Nikolai Grundtvig was to stimulate the intellectual life of young adults (generally from 18 to 25 years of age) of rural Denmark, to foster patriotism and strengthen religious conviction, and to provide agricultural and vocational training. The first school, established in Schleswig (1844), was moved across the Danish border after Schleswig passed to Prussia. The movement then gained momentum, and numerous schools were established, with national history and literature emphasized in the curriculum. The folk high schools had a great influence on the civic life of rural Denmark and helped to improve the condition of the small farmer whose products were marketed through cooperative societies. The folk school idea spread throughout Europe with local adaptations, but by the early 20th cent. the movement had abated. In the United States notable experiments in this type of adult education were instituted at Rome, Ga., and at Brasstown, N.C., where the John C. Campbell Folk School was founded (1925). Most attempts to found folk high schools in the United States, however, have been unsuccessful.

folk drama, noncommercial, generally rural theater and pageantry based on folk traditions and local history. This form of drama, common throughout the world, declined in popularity in the West (although not in Asia) with the advent of printing, general literacy, and the increasing emphasis on the individual contribution to the drama of playwright, director, and actors. The mid-19th cent. witnessed a revival of folk drama in the United States and parts of Western Europe. Some of the major figures responsible for this resurgent interest were the Americans Percy McKaye and Paul Green, the Englishman Louis N. Parker, and the French actor-manager and poet Maurice Pottecher. American universities, including North Dakota Agricultural College (now North Dakota State Univ.) and the universities of North Carolina and Wisconsin, sponsored much experimental work in producing regional history plays. One yearly drama presented outside the university environment is the Trail of Tears history play performed by Native North Americans of Cherokee, N.C.

folk dance, primitive, tribal, or ethnic form of the dance, sometimes the survival of some ancient ceremony or festival. The term is used also to include characteristic national dances, country dances, and figure dances in costume to folk tunes. Many children's games, such as "London Bridge" and "The Farmer in the Dell," are traditional folk dances. More elaborate examples are the Spanish fandango, the Bohemian polka, the Hungarian czardas, the Irish jig, the Scottish Highland fling, the Hawaiian hula, and the English morris dance, sword dance, and Maypole dance. American barn dances, such as the Virginia reel, are largely derived from European sources. Early in the 20th cent. Cecil James Sharp, founder of the English Folk Dance Society, made a notable collection of English folk songs and dances. The American Folk Dance Society has done much to preserve the knowledge of old American country dances, and a similar interest has developed in other countries. A popular form of recreation, folk dancing is often taught in schools.

folk art, the art works of a culturally homogeneous people produced by artists without formal training. The forms of such works are generally developed into a tradition that is either cut off from or tenuously connected to the contemporary cultural mainstream. Folk art often involves craft processes, e.g., in America, quilting and sculpture of ships' figureheads, cigar-store figures, and carousel animals. Paintings in the tradition of primitivism also reflect the folk idiom. Folk art is generally nationalistic in character and expresses the values and aspirations of a culturally united group. Much folk art possesses a rough-hewn quality frequently admired and imitated by sophisticated artists. In works of the American regionalist school of the 20th cent., folk and mainstream traditions merged to form a hybrid modern expression. Of several museums devoted to the collection and exhibition of folk art, the best known is probably the American Folk Art Museum in New York City.

Highlander Folk School, New Market, Tenn.; founded in 1932 by Myles Horton in Monteagle, Tenn., now known as the Highlander Research and Education Center. At first the school focused on training union organizers, but in the 1950s Highlander became a center of the civil-rights movement. Monteagle officials revoked the school's charter in 1960, but Horton relocated, first to Knoxville and then to New Market. In the 1980s the school's focus shifted to balancing environmental concerns with the struggle for economic recovery in the South.

Music held to be typical of a nation or ethnic group, known to all segments of its society, and preserved usually by oral tradition. Knowledge of the history and development of folk music is largely conjectural. Musical notation of folk songs and descriptions of folk music culture are occasionally encountered in historical records, but these tend to reflect primarily the literate classes' indifference or even hostility. As Christianity expanded in medieval Europe, attempts were made to suppress folk music because of its association with heathen rites and customs, and uncultivated singing styles were denigrated. During the Renaissance, new humanistic attitudes encouraged acceptance of folk music as a genre of rustic antique song, and composers made extensive use of the music; folk tunes were often used as raw material for motets and masses, and Protestant hymns borrowed from folk music. In the 17th century folk music gradually receded from the consciousness of the literate classes, but in the late 18th century it again became important to art music. In the 19th century, folk songs came to be considered a “national treasure,” on a par with cultivated poetry and song. National and regional collections were published, and the music became a means of promoting nationalistic ideologies. Since the 1890s, folk music has been collected and preserved by mechanical recordings. Publications and recordings have promoted wide interest, making possible the revival of folk music where traditional folk life and folklore are moribund. After World War II, archives of field recordings were developed throughout the world. While research has usually dealt with “authentic” (i.e., older) material not heavily influenced by urban popular music and the mass media, the influence of singer-songwriters such as Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, and Bob Dylan expanded the genre to include original music that largely retains the form and simplicity of traditional compositions.

Learn more about folk music with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Dance that has developed without a choreographer and that reflects the traditional life of the common people of a country or region. The term was coined in the 18th century and is sometimes used to distinguish between dances of the people and those of the aristocracy. Courtly and formal dances of the 16th–20th centuries often developed from folk dances; these include the gavotte, gigue, mazurka, minuet, polka, samba, tango, and waltz. Seealso country dance; hula; morris dance; square dance; sword dance; tap dance.

Learn more about folk dance with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Art produced in a traditional fashion by peasants, seamen, country artisans, or tradespeople with no formal training, or by members of a social or ethnic group that has preserved its traditional culture. It is predominantly functional, typically produced by hand for use by the maker or by a small group or community. Paintings are usually incorporated as decorative features on clock faces, chests, chairs, and interior and exterior walls. Sculptural objects in wood, stone, and metal include toys, spoons, candlesticks, and religious items. Folk architecture may include public and residential buildings, such as eastern European wooden churches and U.S. frontier log cabins. Other examples of visual folk arts are woodcuts, scrimshaw, pottery, textiles, and traditional clothing.

Learn more about folk art with a free trial on Britannica.com.