Re: [Harp-L] Folk disagreement

moandabluz@xxxxxxx · Wed, 06 Dec 2006 15:30:10 -0500

   Winslow.. would you consider music from someone like, perhaps, the 
Carter Family to be folk? I'm trying to think of others that I feel fit 
that category. I think now, though, that type of music is being slid 
into the "Americana" category.

Steve "Moandabluz" Webb
-----Original Message-----
From: winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wed, 6 Dec 2006 11:18:37 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Folk disagreement
  I'm going to chime in with Thurg here.
Folk as I describe it is not a subset of anything else.
It's the origin of the term "folk". This concept and this term have
been around with this meaning for a good 200 years, maybe longer.
The practice, as opposed to the term, goes back into the mists of time.
Everything that Michael describes came along recently, and largely for
commercial reasons, with only a tangential relation to actual folk
music.
For some reason the music business fastened on the term "folk" in the
mid-1950s and attached it to people like Peter, Paul, and Mary, the
Kingston Trio, and other music business acts, and used this as a
vehicle for selling a product to the public. This seems to have built
on the practice started by Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger of repurposing
(some would say hijacking) folk music as a vehicle for social protest.
(This is not a commentary on their politics or the rightness of their
goals, only on the distorted perception that they created of what folk
music is.)
The good will created by the folk protest movement and its image for
folksiness were ripe targets for commercial exploitation in a time when
modernization was leading to alienation and nuclear destruction seemed
to threaten from every side.
Later, both marketing threads came together in the person of Bob Dylan,
who then added a third element - the singer-songwriter who plays an
acoustic guitar. This further generated an idiom of highly personal
songwriting that is the antithesis of the shared experience that is
fundamental to the term "folk".
Along with this came a lot of bad rack harmonica playing that has had
an unfortunate influence on the playing of harmonica by actual folk
musicians (obligatory harmonica content).
Now it may well be that, as Michael describes from his own experience,
that in the wake of all that politicizing and money making, people of
good will have started doing things that they innocently refer to folk
music even though it is not folk music.
This is not to comment on the honesty or good will of those people or
on the musical or social value of what they do. Though clearly,
Michael's "subset" description points to a distorted understanding that
does not sit well with people who understand the origin of the term and
who value what it means.
One of the results of the perceptions described above is that people
involved with actual folk music now tend to use the term traditional
music instead. Eventually someone will figure out how to distort and
exploit that, too, and we'll have to find another descriptive term.
The weather is pretty nice here. Why am I being so crabby?
Winslow
--- Michael Rubin <rubinmichael@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Winslow writes:
  But it sounds like the singer-songwriter thing is what you're
thinking
of. For some reason a songwriter plays an acoustic guitar and some
people call it "folk" when folk is the opposite - songs that have
been
around and styles that have been around for hundreds of years and are
part of the culture.
  I disagree.  I think that concept is one subset of the larger genre
of folk music as it is presented by major festivals, coffeehops,
clubs, record companies and musicians today.
  I am very involved in the Kerrville Folk Festival.  Kerrville is a
small city 2 hours West of Austin.  Outside the city is a private
campground.  Twice a year, they have a festival, a small one for 3
days and a large one for 18 days.  Volunteers are known to live at
the fest grounds for 2 months both before and after the festival
insuring its success and improvement.
  I go for 18 days straight (except for emergencies and big gigs),
camp out and play music till the wee hours, volunteer for 4 hours a
day for free camping 2 meals and 4 drinks daily and entrance to the
fest.  I see 3 to 10 folk acts a day.  Many of the acts accepted or
touted as folk have nothing to do with what Winslow is talking about.

  In my opinion, Folk is a style of music, a feeling, an attitude, a
way of life,etc.  This is very similiar to Blues.
  Playing folk harp is a relevation, because  there are no hard set
traditions dictating what you play for authenticities' sake.  I play
in any position, bluesy, minory, campfirelike, use chromatic, use
vocal mics and amplifiers, etc.  I am a folk musician and therefore
anything I choose to play is folk music.
  Now the original poster stated he liked the first position sound
but had to learn overblows to play minor.  It is true, to play minor
1st you need overblows or a minor tuned harp.  I agree with Tim that
once you start overblowing, the feel commonly associated with first
position goes away.  I think 4th position is a great choice,
especially if you were to stay on 4 blow and above you will achieve
that straight harp sound.  Once you bend, all campfire style bets are
off.
  MIchael Rubin
  michaelrubinharmonica.com
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