The first month passed me by pretty readily as I was preparing for a gig to launch my e.p (previous blog posts). The night was as long as it was incredible, thank you so much to Ali George, John Wilson, Rob Winder, Katie Stone-Lonergan for the music as well as all the people who came and supported the night!
Recently I have been musing on the idea of folk music; what it is, isn't and what it is that really bugs me when the term is thrown every which way at the current wave of acoustic singer-signwriters that pop up around the shelves of HMV.
I guess I could write a thousand word rant on what boils down to semantics and definitions, citing examples that can be broken down seconds later... I will try not to! This is because the term folk music originally had a very clear definition, it was an extension of the term folk lore, coined by William Thoms, meaning: "the traditions, customs, and superstitions of the uncultured classes."
I also like the further definition: "The folk song is one of the most functional, portable, adaptable and accessible arts of human history."
Highlighting the word adaptable is key as it helps us to address what has happened. From the original definition, another sprung up in the 19th-20th centuries, folk music became not just the music of a people but it also became music of the people. These I relate to as very different ideas, the latter being more linked into the music that came out of the (generally Northern) working populace through the 19th century. These are people in a different generation, a world away in terms of social and economic structure and relating their experiences accordingly, uniting themselves through song. In the changing political climate it is unsurprising that folk music and those who performed it went hand in hand with the socialist and communist parties as well as the unions, humans are sociable by nature but that nature was being broken down bit-by-bit by industry. The term subsequently got connected to several other genres: -rock, -adelia, -metal etc the overarching idea being that these genres were being linked back to and influenced by the former definition, the dichotomy made clear.
The development has continued, as has the need for people to find more and farther reaching definitions for each form, some wanting to stop at the collections produced during and before the early 20th century, collections that have come under (I feel unjust) criticism because of the material that had been selected, rewritten, written down at all. Others embrace the idea of folk music continuing to develop and be amalgamated into different styles and so on... everyone draws their lines and borders at some point now, hence the difficulty of definitions.
Chris Wood expressed his feeling on the term as "Folk music needs no definition. It emerges from the un-schooled to articulate the wonder and richness of the ordinary..."
My brother recently went to see Frank Turner perform in London where he said (paraphrased) "when did folk music stop?"
Does this debate get us anywhere? Does it really get me anywhere? This has filled my mind recently but I think I'm getting somewhere, personally at least.
After many debates between my friends and (patient) partner, I realised the songs that I choose to sing are good songs, they are songs that shouldn't die out nor be endangered as they are a living link that we hold to our history as a people, our national identity: something that we should be proud of.
I am English. I am proud of that and as such my belief is that our traditions and cultural history should be respected, taught and spread in the same way that other cultures have done with theirs, not through xenophobia and the closing up of borders (not always literal) but through respect of what people had to say about their lives and the methods that they used to achieve this. This isn't an argument purely about the music that is performed by others and how they choose to define it (though I have mistakenly centred it in such a way previously) but whether, when it comes to the performance of a song, it is a story that I wish to tell, that I wish to continue in the world.
and breathe
so, what does this mean in terms of my direction this year? Well over the last month I've started putting together a selection of songs and tunes for a new album, arranging them and planning a larger band to play with. These tracks will be focussing on my pondering and my clearer perception of what I personally want to achieve through my music, keep an eye on the myspace for the developments.
On a further note, June Tabor's new album is out on the 21st this month and is something I've been waiting a long time for!
Other singers I've been enjoying recently (old and new):
Alasdair Roberts
Pilgrims Way
Trembling Bells
Ali George
Davy Graham and Shirley Collins
Andy Cutting
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