ABSTRACT
The general introduction sets out the scope and intent of the volume. This comprises a focus on the folk performing arts of drama, dance, song and music. The ‘English’ of the title is understood as a porous border rather than a search for notions of Englishness. Folk performance arises in an unofficial, homemade, amateur, occasionally semi-professional performance culture and has placed a particular value on a link to the past through the idea of the performed reiteration of songs, dances and plays, sometimes at the same times of year and sometimes in the same places. In this way, folk performance has a particular role in the formation of cultural memory.
As a starting point, so we can get rid of the inverted commas as soon as possible, ‘folk’ performance arises in an unofficial, homemade, amateur, occasionally semi-professional performance culture. Furthermore, folk performance culture has placed a particular value on a link to the past through the idea of the performed reiteration of songs, dances and plays, sometimes at the same times of year and sometimes in the same places. In this way, folk performance has a particular role in the formation of cultural memory. However, just because there is already something to perform, imaginative and talented people do not stop making new work.
