Acceso usuarios
This article -part of an introduction to a study of the Basque oral narrative ballad-examines the historical phenomenon of counterfeit "traditional" songs in Europe. Reaching truly epidemic proportions in the 19th century, this phenomenon warrants the creation of a typological tool capable of discriminating among the different forms of objective and subjective forgeries that can be discerned in the production of putative antiquissima carmina. The article examines the motivations of the counterfeiter, from the mischievous to the patriotic, and gives special emphasis to the far-reaching effects of such forgeries, throughout Europe, on the development of nationalist ideologies as well as on popular tradition itself as a field of study.
