Folk music has seen several artists revive it throughout its history. One such artist is Bob Dylan; his iconic songs like “Blowin’ in the Wind” have inspired millions to pick up and play this genre of music.
Woody Guthrie began creating music that addressed poverty, ecology and labor movements during the 1930s. He revived folk music through his left-leaning topical songs that helped revive its appeal.
Origins
Folk music refers to songs and traditions passed down orally from generation to generation, usually reflecting local cultures or values and reflecting significant historical events like war or struggles for freedom or justice.
Jewish traditional music expresses the beliefs and history of its audience, as do German student songs and New England sea chanteys. For immigrant groups, folk music provides an extra dimension for identity formation that helps maintain cultural cohesiveness within groups as a whole; additionally it can bring people together through its universal language: music.
During the late 1950s and 1960s, there was a widespread revival of interest in folk music. Legendary performers like Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan used their music as a platform for political activism – protesting Vietnam War draft registration drives, supporting civil rights causes. Meanwhile, other performers like Joni Mitchell, Buffy Sainte-Marie and Leonard Cohen gained notoriety through popular genre-bending singer-songwriter roles within Folk Revival circles before breaking out onto their own with unique musical styles of their own.
Folk music’s revival in America had an enormous effect on other forms of music such as Rock and Roll and Country and Western, reflecting American multiculturalism with Native American, European folk, African tribal music and African-inspired work songs originating with Black slaves all intertwined into one soundscape.
Influences
Folk music is often associated with specific regions or communities and represents their struggles, triumphs, customs, beliefs and the history of protest in that area. Over the centuries, songs written about such issues have served to express community concerns while uniting them against injustice in an effective form of cultural protest.
Scholars have long explored the origins and development of folk music through an analysis of song texts, melodies, instruments, performance practices, and instrument repertoire. Since portable recording technology first appeared in the early 1930s, portable recordings enabled scholars to document musical traditions from across America; later these recordings formed the Archive of American Folk Song collection that continues to serve researchers today.
Folklorists take great interest in both the structure and social functions of folk music. They study how Native American chants and African American spirituals operate in religious ceremonies; how Appalachian folk songs support traditional social bonds; as well as how West Indian steel bands and Jewish Klezmer ensembles showcase distinct worldviews through performances.
Folk music’s direct connection to its creators has long made it an inspiration for other musicians, even after it has lost prominence on the market. Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan and Cat Stevens used traditional instruments and melodies from folk music revival to create new styles using this collaboration between musicians – which became one of its enduring legacies as it led to new genres such as pop and country music as well as ska, punk and jazz genres.
Styles
Folk music’s roots lie in traditional styles, yet over time its scope and diversity have expanded and broadened significantly. It often serves as part of regional cultures or has become part of immigrant communities; furthermore it has had an enormous influence on other forms of art including literature – John Steinbeck’s novel “The Grapes of Wrath” features a guitarist-playing migrant worker named Tom Joad who finds strength through folk songs composed by fellow workers such as himself.
Folk musicians today often draw their inspiration from traditional sources; however, their performances also tend to focus more on current events and social change than on past ones. Songs may cover issues facing the working class or effects of globalization; for example singer-songwriter Jake Xerxes Fussell uses music as a vehicle to explore American history and culture by using musical fragments such as songs, banjo tunes or melodies as artifacts to understand societies that created them.
Many of the early folk music pioneers were singer-songwriters. Examples include The Kingston Trio, Pete Seeger, and Woody Guthrie – popular musicians who also spearheaded political movements such as civil rights activism or opposition to Vietnam War protests. Woody Guthrie’s politically charged songs proved particularly potency during this era when civil rights issues, anti-nuclear activism, and protest movements took hold.
Folk music scholars have given particular thought to its social function. They have examined how Native American chants function within religious or worship ceremonies, African American spirituals and work songs are used to communicate feelings and emotions, and Anglo American fiddle tunes and folk ballads reflect different worldviews among rural Appalachian whites and blacks; Anglo American fiddle tunes reflect clashes of world views between whites and blacks living there respectively; also, scholars have studied musical expressions by immigrant groups such as West Indian steel bands or Jewish Klezmer ensembles in America.
Influence on Classical Music
Folk music collectors in the late 19th and early 20th centuries made extensive recordings of American vernacular expressions such as Native American ritual songs, African American spirituals and work songs, Anglo American ballads and fiddle tunes, as well as Western cowboy songs for collection in archives such as Archive of American Folk Song or Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Today these recordings can be found within these archives.
Classical composers were also greatly influenced by folk music. John Knowles Paine and Amy Beach both used elements from folk music in their classical works, such as using meters and rhythm in “Summertime.” Additionally, both composers included traditional themes and lyrics into their pieces.
American folk music underwent significant change throughout the 20th century. Influenced by events like the Civil Rights Movement and an ever-evolving social climate in America, folk singers became more political with their lyrics; producing more political music that addressed America’s social and political climate – notably artists such as Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Pete Seeger created tunes which articulated such beliefs through song.
Traditional folk music was transmitted orally and often without literacy skills being employed to transmit it. Thus, songs became progressively altered over time from generation to generation as their songs passed along to successive singers; though singers may have used songbooks or broadsheets as tools to expand their repertoires while keeping true to the folk spirit of each piece of music.
Nowadays, many musicians take inspiration from traditional folk music. Artists such as Emmylou Harris, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez are widely considered folk musicians; each artist has developed his/her own signature style of folk music that marries traditional with contemporary elements. As society changes and new musicians come onboard the genre expands further.
Influence on Jazz
Miles Davis and John Lewis have long drawn inspiration from folk songs when creating their improvisational jazz. This style has gained worldwide acclaim, with jazz festivals breaking attendance records in places such as Switzerland and Italy. Additionally, its impact can also be found within classical music with composers such as George Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein incorporating folk elements into their work.
Folk music has historically been intimately connected with social change and political movements. European settlers brought old-world folk melodies from home while African slaves brought work songs and spirituals from Africa into America as they journeyed southward, often singing of oppression yet also proclaiming hope that freedom would soon arrive.
As both World Wars II and the Great Depression began to impact working-class people, they once again turned to folk artists like Woody Guthrie for comfort. His protest songs addressed unemployment, poverty and ecology – issues which would become central topics during both conflicts.
In the 1960s, folk revival music saw great growth; artists like Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell sang about social change and promised of a brighter tomorrow through songs of folk music. Even today, its influence is felt; many concerts still focus on civil rights for LGBT individuals and anti-war activism through this genre of music.
Folk music’s rise has also inspired a new generation of artists who are exploring traditional sounds from other countries, with musicians from India collaborating with folk musicians from the US to create innovative sounds with potential mainstream appeal.