New Folk Music: Friend Or Foe?

In recent years, "new folk music" has taken the world by storm. Easily accessible and enjoyable by the general consumer market, this new folk music has successfully won itself a large pool of listeners, especially among the younger generation. However, to those who are involved in the music scene, whether professional or amateur, this might not exactly be music to their ears. Their main objection is because of its lack of artistic content.Nevertheless, it cannot be said that new folk music is devoid of any merit. Its main redeeming features are its accessibility and popularity. This essay attempts to discuss how the artistic content of new folk music could be further improved on; as well as how the strengths of new folk music could be utilised to aid the development of traditional Chinese orchestral and instrumental music.