The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #156029   Message #4010471
Posted By: Stringsinger
25-Sep-19 - 12:15 PM
Thread Name: traditional music is for entertaining
Subject: RE: traditional music is for entertaining
Art is entertainment. Different people have differing entertainment needs. The word entertainment has been associated with commercialization but I am entertained by a great symphony, looking at a Picasso, hearing an erudite lecture or a rural trad folk performer. I'm entertained by jazz, reading, seeing a good Broadway musical, and creating music and words for myself.

What passes mostly for entertainment on a commercialized level is not entertaining to me with some exceptions. I'm entertained by integrity and honesty in a performance regardless of genres.

The point made about traditional folk music is that it was not constructed to be on the stage or sell lots of recordings but fulfills a need for security and solidarity in a community. But that's still a form of entertainment more satisfying than anything on TV,
or marketed music.

The "Folk Scare" brought this into focus. Some songs were bowdlerized and spruced up for the mass market. The idea of a folk singer was sold as a young woman with long hair and a guitar. Or college frat boys.Think Mighty Wind.

An art form with thought and depth, conveying emotion that's available to anyone who cares to make the effort to appreciate it is an ultimate form of entertainment that lasts.