Folk song (English spelling)

Japanese: フォーク･ソング（英語表記）folk song

A song of unknown authorship that was created and sung by the masses together. In other words, it is a folk song, but in Japan, the term "folk song" actually refers to American folk songs, and more specifically to songs that borrow the form and feel of folk songs rather than pure traditional folk songs. To clearly distinguish them from original folk songs, they are also called "modern folk songs." Unlike original folk songs, such songs are often written and composed by professional composers, sung by professional singers, and commercialized as records, so they essentially belong to the category of popular music rather than folk music.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

民衆が共同で作りあげ歌い伝えた，作者不明の歌。すなわち民謡であるが，日本で〈フォーク･ソング〉と呼ぶ場合，実際にはアメリカの民謡，それも純粋の伝承民謡より，むしろ民謡の形や感覚を借りて作られた歌を指すのが普通であり，それを本来の民謡と明確に区別するために〈モダン･フォーク･ソング〉といった呼び方も行われる。このような歌は，本来の民謡とは逆に，職業的な作者が作詞･作曲し，職業的な歌手が歌ってレコードとして商品化されていることが多く，実質的には民俗音楽ではなくてポピュラー音楽の部類に属する。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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