Talk:British folk rock

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Being curious about this term "electric folk" which is one I'm not familiar with, I looked it up. What I found (other than mirrors of this Wikipedia article) was Electric Folk: The Changing Face of English Traditional Music by Britta Sweers. On coming back to Wikipedia I note that the bulk of the cites in this article are to the same book. The term Electric folk on Wikipedia was original a redirect to Folk rock, which I can understand, but in 2007, it started to develop into an article on electric folk with this edit. It's not entirely clear in this article the actual difference between "folk rock" and "electric folk", given that the understanding is that both terms relate to folk music being played on amplified or electric instruments. The argument put forward in this article appears to be that "folk rock" is what Americans play, while "electric folk" is what the British play. Though the artists discussed in this article are usually referred to as "British folk rock": [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12], etc.

I am wondering if this term "electric folk" is a personal choice by the writer Britta Sweers to define what is commonly known as "British folk rock". Should we change the name of this article? SilkTork ^{✔Tea time} 18:37, 26 September 2017 (UTC)

Jennifer Cutting also uses the term "electric folk" in a talk she gave in 1993 in which she argues that there is a distinction between "folk rock" and "electric folk": [13]. SilkTork ^{✔Tea time} 09:51, 27 September 2017 (UTC)

I am thinking that there may be room in either this or the main Folk rock article to include reference to the theory that folk rock incorporates both electrified folk music ("electric folk"), and music which blends both folk and rock ("folk rock"). It appears from the arguments used that the distinctions are very fine - Cutting herself says its a distinction that the players themselves make rather than the listeners or critics, and that bands themselves will wander from "electric folk" to "folk rock" during a recording or concert. It does seem, by her own admission, a fringe theory, but one that I think we can make room for. SilkTork ^{✔Tea time} 10:00, 27 September 2017 (UTC)

Change name to British folk rock

Given the above evidence, it appears that the name of this article should be British folk rock. Are there any reasons why this move should not take place? SilkTork ^{✔Tea time} 18:40, 26 September 2017 (UTC)

Genre articles always present a quandary. Sometimes they are essentially about a term and then about what is included in the term. Other times they are more about a topic that innately exists in the stereotypical/classic Wikipedia sense. I don't think that "electric folk" substantially exists as a term/entity. And the contents of the article are indeed "British folk rock", and a topic that I think has good scope for an article and is article-worthy. In short, good move! North8000 (talk) 01:05, 30 October 2017 (UTC)

Thanks. I think there is room in this article to expand upon and explain the thinking behind the term "electric folk", which seems to be a modern term which wishes to allow musicians outside of Britain to play British folk rock, without having to use the term "British", because they may be Canadian or American, and wish to play traditional Canadian or American folk music. SilkTork (talk) 12:05, 30 October 2017 (UTC)