The Folk Image

Subject: RE: The Folk Image
From: Mudlark
Date: 12 Jul 02 - 12:32 PM

Music has been a passion all my life and I have catholic tastes...Baroque chamber music, classical guitar, the great ballads from the 1930s-40s, 50's west coast jazz and folk music. But it is only folk music that I can actually make for myself, which puts it at the top of the list, if I had to choose just one form (which, TG, I don't). To be able to sing a beautiful song, that tells an intrancing story, and has been around for 100-500 or more years is like being able, in those moments, to relive history. I think that is VERY cool.

Subject: RE: The Folk Image
From: fogie
Date: 12 Jul 02 - 01:04 PM

A mate of mine has tried to reinvent the folk club. He has a regular open stage, amplification, compere etc. once a month. You book your act in prior to the night and can do virtually anything you want, be it folk, poetry, comedy or whatever for initially up to 10mins, but if they think you're up to doing it the next time you can book yourself half-hour slots. There is a preponderance of old folkies like me glad to be in a quiet room with other performers, and given space to expand, relive ,or create an act. This is in a village hall, and people travel for miles to be there. It seems to be thriving. Folk music is a catch all phrase for accoustic music that is relevant harmonious, and instructive sometimes, that others can join in with, and share. I dont really care if it has come from Britain, as long as it means something to me personally, and I know there are good non-traditional songs being written all the time, either in or out of the idiom. All I long to do is perform and enjoy myself; to learn to entertain.

Subject: RE: The Folk Image
From: C-flat
Date: 12 Jul 02 - 01:28 PM

I don't like to pigeon-hole music or people. The best thing about folk-clubs or folk gatherings is that they embrace many styles and are tolerant towards players of all standards. There's still an element of the "Arran-sweater/big-beard" to folk musics' image, but who cares?
For me, the best part of the folk scene is that you don't need to fit in with someone elses idea of what you should look like or sound like.
Most of my performing takes place outside of folk music (blues,rock,etc.)but I've always felt free to turn up at an open session and play whatever I want, wether it's traditional or modern.
A good song is a good song, whatever it's history.

Subject: RE: The Folk Image
From: GUEST,Boab
Date: 13 Jul 02 - 04:08 AM

Ruthie---when I was a "teenager", the word "teenager" hadn't been invented! I was a fan of Tito Burns and his bebop band, went crazy in drainpipes and slab-soled shoes to the strains of "Twelfth Street Rag" [still love it---], and one fateful night was coaxed into a folk club. In England. Coincidence, maybe, but I found myself listening to music and song which had been a continuing part of my life since I was able to carry my first tune. Traditional Scottish music, in an English venue. I didn't drop Twelfth Street Rag" or "Blue-ribbon Gal", but from then on I have been regularly found among those folkies, giving vent to my own versions of the many songs and stories which I found I had been collecting down the years without consciously favouring "folk". In those same clubs I found a breadth of interest in music of all genres---something that you don't find in most other congregations. Much of the present day "rock" music is good to listen to.And much of it is is of a quality that, were it not pushed on the public in conjunct with some asinine video gyrations, would be trash-can fodder tout-de-suite. My association with folk clubs has given me an appreciation for music and end entertainment across a broad spectrum; I do not like everything I hear or see, but then many others have their tastes, and I have always respected that. To paraphrase a biblical quote--"in the realms of music there are many mansions---".

Subject: RE: The Folk Image
From: Hrothgar
Date: 15 Jul 02 - 07:26 AM

The hardest bit, still, is explaining the sifference between folk and country... (sigh)

Subject: RE: The Folk Image
From: GUEST,Pete
Date: 15 Jul 02 - 07:41 AM

Fair play to you for getting up and saying what you believe even if it puts you outside the "cool" group.As a father of two teenage girls I know how much pressure there is to fit in.As many others have said already, be true to yourself

Subject: RE: The Folk Image
From: Jeanie
Date: 16 Jul 02 - 08:09 AM

Great news, Ruthie ! And you are not alone. Just last night I was talking to two girls in the sixth form (year 12) at my daughter's school, who have formed their own band and are discovering and playing (amongst other styles) folk rock. One of their big problems, they told me, was finding tunes and lyrics. Aha ! I think there will shortly be two new Mudcat members !

Good luck and continue having fun with music,

- jeanie

Subject: RE: The Folk Image
From: GUEST,Desdemona at work
Date: 16 Jul 02 - 01:10 PM

Both my 11 and 7 year old sons enjoy listening to and even singing folk music, especially the younger one, who likes to sing along with Martin Carthy in the car!

Subject: RE: The Folk Image
From: Snuffy
Date: 16 Jul 02 - 08:05 PM

I drive my 15-yr old twins to school every morning, and I always have a folk CD on in the car. My daughter says whenever Hughie Jones' version of Liverpool Lou is playing, she's got the damned song in her head for the rest of the day.

Subliminal indoctrination rules, OK!

Subject: RE: The Folk Image
From: English Jon
Date: 17 Jul 02 - 01:41 PM

My advice, Ms Arkley; Wear whatever you like, sing whatever songs you like, and always remember you're a damn sight cleverer than them other buggers.

Cheers for now, Jon (Loomes)

Subject: RE: The Folk Image
From:
Date: 18 Jul 02 - 01:51 AM

But isn't it a strange thing, the way we're inclined to get all tribal about our (and others') musical tastes, especially when we're young(hopefully maturity brings tolerance, and maybe an awareness that we're not doomed to one small social circle forever). I've often wondered why there's this deep concern about whether the music we like is cool, that is, passes non-musical tests.

Subject: RE: The Folk Image
From: Genie
Date: 18 Jul 02 - 02:25 AM

Ruthie,

Hang in there and play/listen to whatever YOU like.  Remember, too, that "folk" music is an awfully broad category that can include ethnic music from all over the world, a lot of blues, rockabilly, country, bluegrass, and a lot of popular music from days gone by.

The funny thing to me is that when I'm entertaining in mixed-generation groups, I'll get requests from very young people for "Greensleeves,"  "You Are My Sunshine," and other "oldies" that I would not expect them to like.

Listen to your own drummer and make your own music.

Genie

Subject: RE: The Folk Image
From: mouldy
Date: 18 Jul 02 - 03:04 AM

My teenage daughter (also a Ruth) took up the violin a year ago, but insisted on only learning folk fiddle. This is just one of several types of music she likes. (She also plays piano). She has never conformed to any "fashionable" trend and, having left school after GCSEs last month, now sports purple streaks in her (relatively) unstyled hair. (I promised her I'd let her do it the minute she finished school). She has never been afraid to be "herself", and the same can be said for her sister, who is now a very confident and outgoing 3rd/4th year pharmacy student, and her brother - both comfortable with all kinds of people.

You are who you are, and no amount of clique-following will make any difference if that isn't you. You'll just end up neurotic!

Andrea (in mum mode)

Subject: RE: The Folk Image
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 18 Jul 02 - 06:16 AM

And I thought that God (Ewan MacColl) made folkies in his own image.

Subject: RE: The Folk Image
From: Malachy
Date: 18 Jul 02 - 10:11 PM

Hey Ruthie A Get your philistine mates to listen to Travis' slightly folky version of Britneys 'Hit Me Baby One more Time'..and point out that you can actually understand the words now!!!..........I never realised what a good song it was until I heard their version. Mal

Subject: RE: The Folk Image
From: Mr Happy
Date: 22 Apr 07 - 09:03 AM

Stereotype?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhNXJGmcqNI

Subject: RE: The Folk Image
From: pirandello
Date: 22 Apr 07 - 10:32 AM

The first thing which enters people's minds when the words 'folk music' are uttered is women with hairy armpits, earth shoes, ethnic-knit woollens from some collective in Nicaragua, huge wooden earrings and shapeless harem trousers.
For the men it's bad corduroys, beards (naturally), the de rigeur earring, an alarmingly anal repertoir of beer original gravity and a peculiar aversion to electricity. Sandals optional.
Oddly the music never gets a mention...

Subject: RE: The Folk Image
From: Stringsinger
Date: 22 Apr 07 - 11:00 AM

Hi Ruthie,

I want to show my support for you in your wisdom. I wish I were that smart at 13.

I was an outcast in my high school for playing and singing folksongs too. I presented a folksong in the little building in the school quad. Actually, to my surprise, I found that my classmates liked it! They had made assumptions about what it was without listening to it.
The only one who objected was the choral instructor who thought it was terrible that the song contained "hell" and "damn". (How times have changed!)

My interest like yours stemmed from hearing it, liking it and rejecting much of the treacle and inane pop music of my day.

The reason that you have expressed so well that folk music is an equal-opportunity expression is that it is available to all who care to appreciate it and to all who wish to participate in it. Can't say that for any other form of music.

To play pop music of today, you have to sound like the recording of it played on the air.
How many people can do that?

For classical and jazz, years of training are required.

Britney Spears is a commodity before she is an artist. This is true with so many pop stars.
Folk music is not a commodity but a valuable insight into national cultures and history.

I think you have something here. We have to be open-minded to really appreciate folk music. We have to be open to the lives of others who may differ from our way of life but in folk music we can be assured that this is an honest expression of the cultures from which it comes.

One of the things that attracted me to folk music is that I was a rebel to the "cool" and "hip" ideas of my classmates. It was truly different and thereby interesting. Like you, I approach it from the music first and the other stuff is window dressing.

Rejecting the commerical and mundane part of the music biz, pop stuff, is not really closing yourself off to anything. It's separating (to quote a popular cliche) the "wheat from the chaff".

Folk music will survive because it will always be open to those who want it.

Good for you for being so smart and selective and not going along with the "crowd". Please feel free to rant here anytime. I love it.


Frank Hamilton

Subject: RE: The Folk Image
From: Declan
Date: 22 Apr 07 - 07:09 PM

Frank,

In case you haven't noticed it is almost 6 years since the original post, which would mean that Ruthie would be about 19 now.

It would be interesting to know if her liking for folk music survived her teenage years.

Are you still out there Ruthie?

Subject: RE: The Folk Image
From: GUEST,meself
Date: 22 Apr 07 - 07:43 PM

Poor Frank! After all the thought and effort he put into that post ... (I think Ruthie's on tour with her gangsta-rap crew at the moment ... )