What is Folk Music?

Definition: Folk music is:Any style of music which represents a community and can be sung/played by people who may or may not actually be trained musicians, using the instruments available to them.

As times have changed, folk music has changed to reflect the times. Many of the old labor and protest songs are still sung today, albeit with new verses that were added to reflect the context in which the songs were resurrected.

In the 1960s, folk music blended with mainstream music, as the Baby Boomers came of age all at once. The music of the folk revival was narrative pop music with a social conscience.

Folk music includes both traditional music and the genre that evolved from it during the 20th century folk revival. The term originated in the 19th century but is often applied to music that is older than that. Certain types of folk music are also called world music.

Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers. It has been contrasted with commercial and classical styles. One meaning often given is that of old songs, with no known composers; another is music that has been transmitted and evolved by a process of oral transmission or performed by custom over a long period of time.

Starting in the mid-20th century a new form of popular folk music evolved from traditional folk music. This process and period is called the (second) folk revival and reached a zenith in the 1960s. This form of music is sometimes called contemporary folk music or folk revival music to distinguish it from earlier folk forms.[1] This type of folk music also includes fusion genres such as folk rock, folk metal, electric folk, and others. While contemporary folk music is a genre generally distinct from traditional folk music, in English it shares the same name, and it often shares the same performers and venues as traditional folk music. Even individual songs may be a blend of the two.

Subject Matter:

Relationships – Tender/love; bawdy/crude; serious; funny

Crime – highwaymen and pirates; punishment and hanging – eg MacPherson’s farewell; Long Black Veil

Separation & Death – military; emigration; the sea; death of lovers; chi;dren

Work – mining (miner’s lullaby; cloth (jute mill song); Railway (Casey Jones)

Politcs/Injustice – eg Blowin’ in the wind; What have they done to the rain

Conviviality – eg Wild Rover; Jug o punch; Jamaica farewell

Hard Times All my Trials

Humour/Tall stories- The 3 Craws

War – Johnny has gone for a soldier

Children’s songs – A frog went a courtin; Goin to the zoo

Lullabies – eg from 17th Century – spirits; hush little baby

Religion- Amazing Grace

Environment/Ecology – Just a little rain

Supernatural – The great Silkie

Nostalgia/longing – The Land o the Leal; 500 miles from my home

Rural life – The berry field o Blair; The shearin’s no for you

Travelling people – Come all ye tramps and hawkers

Slavery – Swing low sweet chariot