What are “Traditional” Folk Songs?

by Christina Ray

On November 19, 2025 the VFSS will host a Theme Night called “Singing the Tradition.” You are invited to bring traditional songs, preferably two related traditional songs, to share on the Open Stage.

Some might wonder: what does “traditional” mean in this context?

There are some short answers to this question, helpful even if incomplete. And there are many longer, very interesting answers, answers that raise even more interesting questions. For now, here are some of the short answers.

• Traditional songs can be in any language and come from any part of the world.
• A song that has no listed author is probably traditional. A song without an author means the song was passed down and kept alive through oral tradition. For example, many lullabies are traditional, passed on from parents to children.
• In the Anglo-American sphere, many sea shanties are traditional, as are most of the Child ballads and much of the material collected by Alan Lomax.
• Most of the songs collected in Ontario by folklorist Edith Fowke and in Québec by folklorist-anthropologist Marius Barbeau are traditional.
• In the VFSS, the songs collected by Phil Thomas and passed around in our community are often called “BC Traditional,” even if they have known authors.
• Songs that we now call “traditional” were once called simply “folk.” After the folk revival of the 1960s, the term “traditional” arose to differentiate Bob Dylan-Joni Mitchell-Leonard Cohen folk from the much older material that was passed on via oral tradition.

I hope this gives you a place to start…

And we hope to “sing the tradition” with you at the Wednesday Night Folk on November 19th!