Types of folk music you like or dislike

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: GUEST,akenaton
Date: 26 Jan 20 - 01:11 PM

Four Winds

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: GUEST,akenaton
Date: 26 Jan 20 - 01:04 PM

Yes Walkabout, Alba is forever promoting these you groups and singers, it is virtually impossible to tell one from the other and all sound stilted, they do not have the verve of the Irish. It was all so different in the Ceilidh Days.
Dave , don't even try to pass off an opinion piece in the PC Herald as fact.....You know as much about Burns as my arse does about snipe shooting. Burns was a complicated character who would never have supported the social mores of today, he loved humanity, but more he loved nature the sweetness and the cruelty, he also wrote for a living and often gave his patrons what they asked for......no modern "scruples" for Robbie.
Walkabout …..try a listen to Daori Farrell and Four Winds in a public setting. Daori is a fairly young performer who has the spirit in him.

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 26 Jan 20 - 12:42 PM

I'm going by BBC Alba and Radio Gael, Akenaton...and, at the start of her career, hearing Julie Fowlis at the Sage Gateshead.

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 26 Jan 20 - 12:42 PM

I wouldn't call Eddi a failed popster, Jack. She did rather well solo and with Fairground attraction and the Waterboys. She topped single and album charts and earned 3 Brit awards. She certainly earned enough to enable her to pursue her folk song hobby with no financial worries. If that is failing, I'd take it :-)

Ake. Is this the misogynistic Robert Burns you are talking about? I thought you would have known your own national poet better.

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: GUEST,akenaton
Date: 26 Jan 20 - 12:35 PM

Walkabout....this area was partially Gaelic speaking when I was a boy, the music and song were terrific it sprang directly from the community.
Today Gaelic song is lifeless...there is no spirit in the young musicians......just another branch of the industry I'm afraid.

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: GUEST,akenaton
Date: 26 Jan 20 - 12:31 PM

On Scots female singers, I can only think of a handful and Mss Miller or Mss Polwart are not among them, the young "folk" crowd all sound identical......much as described by Bonzo. Marie Campbell and the dear late Gordeanna Mcculloch had the authentic sound.

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 26 Jan 20 - 12:27 PM

Without understanding any of the words, I enjoy listening to Scottish Gaelic singers and musicians, because the quality is always so good.

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: GUEST,akenaton
Date: 26 Jan 20 - 12:22 PM

Bonzo has a point, and I don't know if any of the really know the authentic voice of Scotland. For example the finest singer of Scots song was the late Kenneth McKellar, vilified in folk circles as long as I can remember and the only real writer of scots song left is Davie Robertson who's writing stands comparison with Burns in modern terms. On the subject of Burns who's work I love, you would do well to study some of his misogyny and his profanity towards women before preaching your sermons to Bonzo…..seems to me that he knows more about the real warts and all Robert Burns than the PC members of this forum. Most of Burns great songs were produced for performance in a formal setting, what makes those who reside here entitled to promote the "proper" manner of performance?

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Jan 20 - 10:50 AM

Do you like and listen to recordings of the source singers?

Yes

Do you prefer revival and present day singers?

No, with few exceptions

Do you like songs accompanied or unaccompanied?

I usually prefer unaccompanied. Accompanied is OK if done well, i.e. a) if it doesn't become more important than the singing and b) so long as it is not just guitar struffing.

Do you like traditional, contemporary or both?

Mainly traditional but there are a few good comtemporary songs.

What about electric folk?

Definitely, so long as it is well done.


Dance music, social or ritual?

Social dance music: Again, so long as it is well done, fine. I like Morris music but prefer it when it is not melodeon-heavy. Pipe and tabor is good.

Tradsinger

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: Reinhard
Date: 26 Jan 20 - 09:50 AM

Siobhan Miller is the same generation

Eddi Reader is 60 years old. I would guess Siobhan is in her early 30s.

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: GUEST,patriot
Date: 26 Jan 20 - 08:46 AM

That's all fine, akenton, am sure her concerts are fine & she sounds knowledgeable & engaging, with many other virtues. No-one's attacking her personally, and I'm sure her live performances echo on stage what she picked up in the folk clubs.
It's just that the media have decided she is the true voice of Burns, even though her style owes more to MOR & country- it just demonstrates the lack of knowledge of the media in the context of Burns' songs & music.
I have just heard a clip of her doing 'My love is like a red, red rose' and it was so syrupy I couldn't listen to it.
Do we want the world to think that her Scottish pedigree guarantees s that this is the authentic style of the great man?

There are so many fine singers in Scotland, whose style is much more in sympathy with the Scottish song tradition- you're right, Jack, Siobhan Miller is one and she's no 'academic folkie'- but there are many others who never get a look in!!

ps please count Siobhan as a 'like' !!

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: GUEST,akenaton
Date: 26 Jan 20 - 06:59 AM

In defence of "Big Edna" she has a heart as big as the city and she sings as she feels, listening to her live performances is a trip back to what revival folk music felt like. It may not suit the mafia but no one can say that her interpretation is contrived......she is an exceptional performer who will be listened to and appreciated long after the "academic folkies" are consigned to the bin. She is also a funny and really friendly person.

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: Jack Campin
Date: 26 Jan 20 - 06:34 AM

Failed popster rebuilding a career out of folkies' lower expectations.

Siobhan Miller is the same generation and very much better.

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 26 Jan 20 - 06:22 AM

I quite like Eddi Reader. Not sure if she is a folk artist or a pop artist singing some folk songs though.

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Jan 20 - 05:37 AM

Her schmaltzy style of singing reminds me a bit of Karen Carpenter- she was worshipped too!

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: GUEST,Hochma Gandhi
Date: 25 Jan 20 - 01:29 PM

I just noticed that I never actually said whether hers was music I liked or disliked - there were 2 options in the thread heading and it is interesting that everyone has assumed "dislike", and not "like".
I will give her credit for 1 Burns song she has recorded which I did like - "Welcome, Willie Stewart", but the rest, no thanks - it was indeed "dislike".

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 25 Jan 20 - 12:34 PM

She seems like one of those very pushy types who get to the top at the expense of more quietly competent folks.

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: GUEST,patriot
Date: 25 Jan 20 - 11:59 AM

and she's worshipped as the definitive performer of Burns' material- sounds like an engaging lass when interviewed, but good to know someone else thinks her singing is crap

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: Jack Campin
Date: 25 Jan 20 - 06:11 AM

Eddi Reader: somebody who loves Scottish traditional songs so much she goes to the effort of singing them to country music despite having the disability of only being able to sing MOR pop covers.

Repulsive mediocrity.

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: The Sandman
Date: 25 Jan 20 - 03:35 AM

WHEN I was booked at 2019 chippenham folk festival I was impressed with JACK RUTTER. and Nick Dow

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 24 Jan 20 - 06:35 PM

That's the spirit, Hochma!

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: GUEST,Hochma Gandhi
Date: 24 Jan 20 - 05:12 PM

Anything by Eddi Reader - especially tomorrow night.

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Jan 20 - 08:22 AM

Do you like and listen to recordings of the source singers?

No. I don't enjoy listening to that stuff. I may listen to it for research only, words or tune. Source musicians on the other hand can be good to listen to for their own sake (whether they are singing or not).

Do you prefer revival and present day singers?

Yes.

Do you like songs accompanied or unaccompanied?

Accompanied, definitely .... that's not to say I never enjoy hearing or singing uninstrumented song, but solo or unison stuff is so so often uninteresting tortuous, makes me miserable and angry, that it's easier just to skip it all.

Do you like traditional, contemporary or both?

I like a lot of folk songs, listening and playing. And I like a lot of other songs. Unfortunately I often find that my idea of what "original songs written in the folk tradition" are does not align with the ideas of people who usually say that phrase.

Like one poster above, I really hate all parody songs. All of them. And on a related but different note I am not that into original comedy songs either.


What about electric folk?

Yes I can like it, but I like it because it is good, not because it is electric. For example, definitely far and away my favourite recording of Wild Mountain Thyme is the one from the Scotland advert off the telly. And I like some folk song renditions that are a lot more hardcore and distant from traditional renditions than that. But equally there are a lot of experimental versions of folk music that are just painful for me to listen to.

Also I can't listen to the older electric stuff a lot of folkies seem to like (of course I mean fairport conventian and steeleye span, about as relevant to me as the beatles, which is to say completely irrelevant).

Dance music, social or ritual?

Social dance music: yes to occasionally doing all or any of listening, playing, dancing. Ritual: never.

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 23 Jan 20 - 07:15 AM

If you are from Liverpool Guest HiLo, please don't do what Tommy did!

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Jan 20 - 06:29 AM

No!

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 23 Jan 20 - 05:56 AM

Is this the “folk snobbery” thread ? sounds like it .

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 23 Jan 20 - 05:50 AM

Most of the time I like to be challenged by music. Giving people what they want isn't always a good thing. I can think of public beheadings, brexit and Big Macs...


Don't discuss... :-)

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Jan 20 - 04:58 AM

folkies don't like DOD because he knows his audience & gives them what they want- it may be 99pc schmaltz but heyho that's what the folk (in the broad sense) seem to want

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 21 Jan 20 - 02:08 PM

Sorry, previous was by me and it left before I finished it.

This is the stuff DOD does :

Opry le Daniel

And while we're there, this is solid traditional music :

Sé Mo Laoch

And this is Sean Nos:

Songs of Granite

I can't guarantee you can see any or all of it outside Ireland. It's all there for now anyway.

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 21 Jan 20 - 02:05 PM

No no, Guest P - as a youngster, he only caught the last 2 words when he overheard a local shepherd exclaim: "Donegal is God's country!"

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: GUEST,P
Date: 21 Jan 20 - 02:01 PM

He is an easy listening jobbing singer. It's popular, it suits him, why wouldn't he? His audiences laps it up.

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 21 Jan 20 - 01:48 PM

Why did DOD lean toward American country music?

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 21 Jan 20 - 01:47 PM

The way the thread has just turned is amusing in itself...

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Jan 20 - 01:21 PM

but why no jokes?

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 21 Jan 20 - 12:59 PM

Shall we move swiftly on?

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 21 Jan 20 - 12:45 PM

I've heard enough, Steve, to know that the unaccompanied singing mentioned above was not in the old style/sean-nós...but I'm also sure DOD would know of it and has probably had a go at it.

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Jan 20 - 09:41 PM

I could suggest that you take some time to listen to some real sean-nos.

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 20 Jan 20 - 02:34 PM

You mean you wouldn't buy a used car of DOD, have him recommend a plumber and/or listen to his best sean-nós, Steve?!

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Jan 20 - 07:10 PM

Please include me in not everybody.

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 19 Jan 20 - 01:16 PM

He can sing whatever he likes and take his inspiration wherever he likes. He is extremely popular doing what he does. And not everybody has to like it.

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 19 Jan 20 - 01:11 PM

As Dirty Harry said, Peter, "a man's got to know his limitations"...in DOD's case, leaving faulty boilers (gas, that is) to registered installers and American culture to Americans.

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 19 Jan 20 - 11:54 AM

This type? :

Daniel : a gas man

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: GUEST,crumbly
Date: 19 Jan 20 - 11:38 AM

This an opportunity not to be missed for DOD jokes....

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 19 Jan 20 - 09:39 AM

'unaccompanied singing is very much a part of traditional Irish culture'

Which does not, ofcourse, mean any unaccompanied singing becomes 'traditional' or even 'folk' (which in Ireland implies different things).

DOD, is, well, a successful entertainer and celebrity. If you're into that sort of thing.

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 19 Jan 20 - 09:30 AM

Steve - unaccompanied singing is very much a part of traditional Irish culture and, if you use ITV's hub to check the abovementioned programme, I think you will agree he did that very well.

When I turned up on the comp days/Saturdays of folk festivals in Durham and Northumberland a few years ago, I heard some very good unaccompanied singers there, also - especially among the females, frankly.

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 Jan 20 - 09:13 AM

Daniel O'Donnell and the word "culture" do not belong in the same sentence/paragraph/chapter/book/bookshelf/library.

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 19 Jan 20 - 08:49 AM

On a programme where famous folks are taken back to the holiday spots of their childhood (Holiday of my Lifetime, ITV), I just heard Daniel O'Donnell sing unaccompanied, in a pub where he got his first break, about County Donegal.

That was a great piece of Irish culture but then they showed a clip of him backed by the sounds of American country which is a great shame, in my opinion.

I checked Wiki and it says his "music has been described as a mix of country and Irish folk,"...why not just stick to the latter which, as I say, he does very well..?! More related thoughts here.

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Jan 20 - 10:57 AM

not as many as Ben Stokes today.....

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 16 Jan 20 - 03:23 PM

Dave,
Congratulations on getting the 100 in on your own thread!

Subject: RE: Types of folk music you like or dislike
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 16 Jan 20 - 03:08 PM

I remember one match at the KC Stadium where Stevie G was made to look quite ordinary, but I concede that didn't happen very often.