While still at school, Marianne began singing folk songs a cappella in Reading coffee-houses - and, before long, her exquisite looks and obvious talent saw her sucked into the vortex of Swinging 60s London.

Defining track: “Farewell,” one of several traditional folk songs that formed much of Dylan’s early repertoire.

Throughout the afternoon, the crowd was entertained by jolly acapella tunes, sentimental folk songs, and protest anthems.

Out in the fields of the Jordan valley, Palestinian women still sing old folk songs as they harvest the olive groves.

If one listens to the traditional folk songs sung during childbirth, known as Sohar, in parts of north India, joy is reserved for the birth of a male child.