I am a folklorist, cartoonist and a professor of Art with an interest in old time music and folk tales. I believe that story telling is one of the foundations of what it is to be human. Stories can be ethnic, cultural, spiritual, emotional, political, humorous, regional, personal, true and/or false. Narrative can be expressed through art, literature, music, film, theater, religious and secular means.
What I love about story is how it can change and evolve over time by various medium and person. The very nature of folk tales or folk tunes for that matter is to be expressed orally within a live setting. Stories are handed down and with each performance it changes to reflect the audience and or teller. Folksongs are not meant to be frozen but to be played and interpreted in many different ways. Ironically, by recording or publishing a folksong or tale, you create a situation where it can become dogmatic or “set in stone”. Probably why, I like the web format as each story or song that I am interested in can be changed or grouped into a series of evolving work.
