MEMECO x APME International Conference 2026

Folk Music, World Music, Popular Music and the rest of it: how do we get of this maze? Folk music, world music, popular music are often something of a mystery for young students today: the new generations rarely have the chance to witness folk music as it once was (mainly orally transmitted, tied to what sometimes were quite dramatic rituals, alien to any form of commercialization) and, on the other hand, they rarely listen to music which is not filtered by electronic devices. Is “world music” a unified genre or does it hint at the diverse kinds of music of the planet? And isn’t the term “popular” so vague to lend itself to different meanings in different languages?

This contribution aims to clarify what we mean when we use such words, how can we, as much as possible, avoid any ambiguity and how can we differentiate the diverse musical languages and practices which happen to stand outside “art music”. Ranging from French chanson to Neapolitan song and from Italian “canzone d’autore” to British ballads and American topical songs, enquiring the nature of folk music and folk revival in America, Britain, Italy and elsewhere, we will try to understand how folk music has found its way into popular song and, conversely, how popular song has sometimes drawn inspiration from the classical tradition.