The International Folk Music Council adopted this definition at its Annual Conference in London in 1952. It is the product of oral transmission. It is the product of evolution and is dependent on the circumstances of continuity, variation and selection. The music also has a simple melody. There are two kinds of popular music, the folk and mass forms.
Folk songs represent the musical expressions of the common people.
These songs are not composed in that they are not the works of skilled, tutored musicians. It is more accurate to say that they have been created rather than composed. These songs are ordinarily the product of an unknown person or group of persons. The words or lyrics of folk songs are usually colloquial in nature to reflect the speech patterns and expressions of a particular people or region. These songs are highly singable, primarily because they were first presented with the singing voice rather than have been written down in musical notation beforehand.