ABSTRACT
The second folk revival of the twentieth century, which began in earnest towards the end of the Second World War and was connected to the First via the upholders of the aforementioned tradition at the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS), has been recorded as a more accurate representation of 'workers' music' – a presentation, perhaps, of a harsher historical reality together with far greater critical examination and detail. This chapter attempts to examine the socio-cultural constructions surrounding the uses of folk music in Britain during and after the Second World War. In doing so, it contextualises sectarian folk-versus-popular dichotomies. Throughout both eras of revivalism, musical 'ruins' were erected – their function to cater for an affect, to create a 'real illusion' which, through the aesthetic emotions it triggered, ceased to be an illusion. The deliberate channelling of folk music by the BBC into areas where it would not receive popular acclaim only served to feed this vision.
