humusic1-10, Exercise 1: Testing a folk-music claim

Model answer (one possible choice: "Irish traditional music is the authentic voice of the Irish people"; check each point):

1. Whose music? Played and sung by rural and later urban musicians, with regional styles, and also by professional performers and revival groups. Status: documented.
2. Who recorded it? Nineteenth-century collectors such as Edward Bunting, later folklore collectors and field recordists, and the radio and record industries (check). Status: documented.
3. What changed? Tunes were notated, standardised, arranged for ensembles and speeded up for competitions; session culture and recording shaped repertoire. Status: documented in part.
4. Who used it, and why? Cultural nationalists, schools, tourism bodies, record labels and festivals. Status: documented.
5. Which label? "Traditional", "folk" and "authentic" each include and exclude different people and periods. Status: claimed.
6. Evidence? Archives and field recordings back the music; "the voice of the people" is a judgment. Status: mixed.

The method works because it separates the audible record from the story told about it.