The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #105305   Message #2166538
Posted By: GUEST,Cats at Work
08-Oct-07 - 11:30 AM
Thread Name: Folklore: Is folk song really political?
Subject: RE: Folklore: Is folk song really political?
I think that whenever you choose to sing something you are in empathy with it [unless you are just trying to make a nice noise and couldn't care less about the content], so, in effect, every time you sing you a taking a 'political' stand. On that level, the songs you are singing are 'political'. Then there are the 'Political' songs which carry a determined message, be it about work, conditions of service, war, strikes etc. You don't have to agree with the stand these songs are taking but they would have been written with a 'Political' intent to get a message over. So, if you are singing, e.g. The Ox Plough Song, you are empathising with the life and conditions of the various workers in it just as much as you are empathisisng or even supporting the miners in 'Old Soldiers' which was written about the 1984 - 1985 miners strike or 'The Last Fisherman' about the decimation of the Cornish, and now national, fishing fleet.