European music is generally divided into three categories: folk music emanating from rural areas; classical music stemming from educated elites and aristocrats; and popular music coming from cities where there is international trade in goods and ideas and the mingling together of diverse peoples. The concept of folk music originated with the German writer Johann Gottfried von Herder (1778-1779). The intellectuals of the Romantic period theorized that the music of rural peoples carried the collective soul of nations, an idea that appealed to the growing concept nationalism in 19th century Europe. More recently, the term "traditional" has been substituted for the older word "folk." With the start of the Industrial Age in Europe, peasants moved from the countryside to cities and towns, forming new working classes. Bringing their traditional musics with them, the new mobility spurred the substitution of newer text that reflected new occupations and situations. In many ways the concept of folk music is an outdated one except as a way of distinguishing those ageless, orally-transmitted products of musical cultures that have not interacted with 20th century mass media culture from those that have.
Genre Guide 2000 · World/Folk