Roots revival

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about roots revivals in general. For the international project, see Roots Revival (project).
Further information: American folk music revival, Folk music, and British folk revival

A roots revival (folk revival) is a trend which includes young performers popularizing the traditional musical styles of their ancestors. Often, roots revivals include an addition of newly composed songs with socially and politically aware lyrics, as well as a general modernization of the folk sound.

The term roots revival is vague, and may not always refer to identical events. Characteristics associated with a roots revival include:

  • Popularization of previously non-mainstream and independent of folk music
  • Adaptation of folk styles to pop (or rock) structures
  • Invention of new formats like bands where only solo acts had existed before
  • Introduction of new instruments
  • Composition of works by those who perform them, as opposed to folk tunes mostly passed down orally (see singer-songwriter)
  • Incorporation of politically aware lyrics, often critical of a government, religion, or other authority, or society in general
  • Lyrics are the first from the nation to express more than simple desires and problems, and are often seen as the embodiment of a national character or literary tradition (in comparison to the legendary American songwriter, such composers are often said to be the "Bob Dylan" of a particular variety, as in Wannes Van de Velde is the Belgian Bob Dylan)
  • Roots revival performers will often come from very different social and economic backgrounds compared to the people whose style of music they are popularizing.

With such a vague and variable definition, roots revival could be seen as referring to the creation of any kind of pop music industry, though there are countries with well-developed pop traditions that have not had a period referred to as a roots revival (such as Jamaica, India, Cuba, and Kenya). For example, homogenized pop has long had its fans in most every country in the world, but many of these nations have created their own indigenous pop styles out of folk music; this process could be called a roots revival, though in some cases the folk musics in question were still widespread and did not need to be revived.

History

The

The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (1882–92), Sabine Baring-Gould (1834–1924), Frank Kidson (1855–1926), Lucy Broadwood (1858–1939), and Anne Gilchrist (1863–1954).[1] The Folk Song Society was founded in 1898 to promote this new endeavour. A major figure in this movement was Cecil Sharp who was the most influential on the repertoire of subsequent performers and defining the nature of folk song.[1] His lectures and other publications attempted to define a musical tradition that was rural in origin, oral in transmission and communal in nature.[1]

The

honky tonk singers spread to cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City. The growth of the music industry in the same period was also important; higher potential profits from music placed pressure on artists, songwriters, and label executives to replicate previous hit songs. This meant that musical fads, such as Hawaiian slack-key guitar
, never died out completely, since a broad range of rhythms, instruments, and vocal stylings were incorporated into disparate popular genres.

The movement became global in the 1960s and 1970s. In most cases, the folk songs being revived were not quite extinct, though some had not been played for years or were moribund; such cases include the Celtic songs of Cornwall and the Isle of Man, for example. In other cases, such as Cameroon and the Dominican Republic, no revival was necessary as the music remained common, and was merely popularized and adapted for mainstream audiences at home and abroad.

Roots revivals

Kabyle musicians such as Idir, Ferhat and Lounis Ait Menguellet
, who popularized the native sounds of their people

Belgian music: Starting early in the 1960s, a wave of popular folk-based performers emerged, led by Wannes Van de Velde, who drew primarily on Flemish traditions. By the 1980s, popular bands included Brabants Volksorkest and the folk rock band Kadril.

Beninese music: Artists like Tohon Stan have created a popular version of Benin's numerous styles of indigenous folk music, such as tchink-system, a derivative of the funeral genre of tchinkoumé

Cambodian music: The early 1960s saw a revival of classical music and dance, inspired by Princess Norodom Buppha Devi and led by Sinn Sisamouth, though the rise of the Khmer Rouge largely ended this trend.

Cameroonian music: Beginning with bikutsi in the 1950s and continuing with makossa into the end of the 20th century, Cameroon's popularized folk musics have become among the most prominent in Africa. Messi Me Nkonda Martin undoubtedly did the most to evolve bikutsi from its folk origins into a popular style using electric guitars and other importations, while Manu Dibango brought makossa to new audiences around the world.

Chinese music: Partially as a reaction against attempts by the Communist government to use traditional styles to drum up patriotism and loyalty, the 1970s saw the creation of Chinese rock and Cantopop (in Hong Kong), both of which made some use of native folk styles, especially in vocal techniques. The leader of Chinese rock is undoubtedly Cui Jian.

Ivorian music: Ernesto Djédjé's ziglibithy style incorporates a number of folk genres from across Côte d'Ivoire, a diverse country with hundred of ethnic groups; Djédjé's most immediate influence was the folk rhythms of the Bété
.

Međimurje
folk music with rock in an innovative fusion of sounds.

Czech music: In 1966, the Porta Festival was held, and a wave of singer-songwriters inspired by the likes of American Pete Seeger arose.

Danish music: In contrast to its neighbors, Denmark did not see a Roots revival until the late 1990s, when performers like Morten Alfred Høirup gained a widespread following in the country.

Friesland
has maintained a strong traditional music scene.

Egyptian music: The city of Cairo is the most important center for Egyptian music, which includes a variety of popularized folk styles, including northern sawahii and southern saiyidi.

Finnish music: Finland's folk styles include a variety of national genres and ballads, while the traditional rhyming sleigh songs rekilaulu have become an integral part of many pop singers. In 1967, the Savonlinna Opera Festival, the first of several similar festivals, contributed to a revival of Finnish opera and other more traditional styles.

French music: Though many of France's regional styles have seen popularization, the most vibrant scene is undoubtedly the traditional music of Brittany. The region boasts a uniquely Celtic heritage, which has been emphasized by the revival since its beginnings in the early 1970s, led by Alan Stivell. Corsican music has also seen a revival, though with little popular success, concurrent with the rise of Corsican nationalism in the 1970s. In the same way Occitan music, has also seen a revival with Occitan nationalism and reviviscence of occitan speaking in 60's (politic crisis with Gaullists to a clash with French linguistic imperialism and conservative politics) See also the Québécois under Canadian music.

Galician music: Similar to other Celtic nations, traditional Galician gaita (bagpipe) can now be heard all over the country. It had a revival at the beginning of the XX century and then again a stronger revival by the end of the dictatorship in Spain in the 1970s. Carlos Nuñez and Luar na Lubre are two of the big names. Nuñez was discovered by The Chieftains and has become of the best selling Galician folk musicians. Galician artists also participate in the Festival Interceltique de Lorient
in Bretagne.

Gambian music: By the 1970s, Gambian musicians were mostly playing popular merengue or other styles. A visit by pop band The Super Eagles to London to record saw a change, as they were encouraged to continue their practice of Gambian folk. The band became known as Ifang Bondi, and their music was called Afro-Manding blues.

Garifunas, an Afro-Caribbean people found throughout Central America, began turning to their native punta sound and creating popular styles like punta rock, which found an audience across the area. Pen Cayetano
was the most important figure in this scene.

German music: Following the 1968 student revolution in West Germany, singer-songwriters playing a kind of expressive, melancholy music with traditional influences became popular. Due to governmental interference, East Germany did not see much of this influence until the mid-1970s.

Soul to Soul festival, however, featured a number of African American musicians (like Wilson Pickett and Tina Turner
), which had the effect of legitimizing African culture, thus causing a major roots revival that brought highlife to international audiences.

rembétika, a style which had developed earlier in the century. This oppression ironically created a major boom in popularity for the genre, which became associated with political resistance and rebellion. Singer-songwriters like Dionysis Savvopoulos
also became wildly popular, and were seen as voices of the Greek nation.

Music of Israel: Early Zionist settlers in Palestine, as far back as the 1880s, sought to create a new mode of Jewish folk music that was based on Biblical musical modes that had long since been abandoned. These composers, who included Matityahu Shelem, Yedidia Admon, and many others, drew on Yemenite, Arabic and other antique sources to create a unique style that they considered a revival of ancient Jewish music. The songs that they and their followers composed constitute a canonical body of folk music called "Songs of the Land of Israel." These songs are still widely performed today by popular artists.

Another example of roots revival in Israel is the preservation of regional Jewish musical styles. The music of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish communities has morphed into an eclectic new style called "Muzika Mizrahit". Folksongs in Yiddish and Ladino have been revived and recorded by artists like Chava Alberstein and Yehoram Gaon. Yair Dalal incorporates stylistic elements of the music of his native Iraq in his synthetic musical style.

Italian music: The diverse regions of Italy are home to dozens of varieties of folk music. By the 1950s, their popularity was declining rapidly and a group of musicians and musicologists founded organizations like Istituto de Martino and Nuovo Canzoniere Italiano to help preserve folk cultures. The following decade saw a revival of a number of traditions, including Ciccio Busacca's fusions of Sicilian folk styles, central Italy's jazzy modern folk, pioneered by Canzoniere del Lazio, the re-appearance of the lira through the work of Re Niliu, the popularization of diverse genres of northern Italian music and some of the work of world-famous tenor Enrico Caruso, who revitalized Naples' canzone napoletana tradition. In contrast to many other countries', Italy's roots revival has resulted in very little mainstream success.

goshu ondo
.

nongak and sanjo
styles.

suiti kokle player Jānis Poriķis and ethnomusicologist Valdis Muktupāvels
.

Lithuanian music: The Soviet Union had sponsored some music festivals, such as the dainų šventės, but did not allow for much lyrical or musical innovation, and kept all songwriters from experimenting with politically aware and dissident lyrics. An active cultural rebellion occurred in the 1960s, based around a series of national music festivals and concerts.

Jali Musa Jawara
.

Mozambiquan music: Music was used in the 1960s by the independence movement in Mozambique. Leaders in this movement encouraged the growth of a national music industry. By the 1970s, native forms of music, such as marrabenta, had been popularized.

Russian music: Starting in about 1966, a group of bards arose, most prominently including Vladimir Vysotsky, and Vyacheslav Shchurov organized a number of concerts for folk singers. This led to a revival and revitalization of Russian folk songs, a trend which continued in ensuing decades.

Sami, an indigenous people found in central and northern Scandinavia, northern Finland and northwestern Russia, have a tradition of folk songs called joiks, which have been popularized by the likes of Mari Boine
, who remains a legend in the field.

Slovenian Istria) and singer Vlado Kreslin (Prekmurje
).

Latin America, Portugal and Spain

Argentine music: In the 1960s, Andean nationalism was spreading across Argentina, Chile, Bolivia and Peru. Argentina's nativist scene includes landmark performers like Mercedes Sosa and Atahualpa Yupanqui, who helped spawn the nueva canción scene.

Bolivian music: The 1950s saw an increase in nationalist identity surrounding the Quechua and Aymara peoples, and a number of intellectuals began associating themselves with folk music, clothing, cuisine and other elements. By the mid-1960s, a folk revival was blossoming, led by Edgar Jofré.

Tropicalia genre, which starred controversial and acclaimed singer-songwriters Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil
.

Victor Jara
.

Nueva Trova
.

Merengue had been popular in the Dominican Republic for decades since evolving out of confusing folk origins, but did not truly become a form of pop music until the early 1960s, when legends like Johnny Ventura
brought the music to new audiences at home and abroad.

Spanish music was incorporated into Spanish Baroque music in the harpsichord works of Soler. Later composers such as Albeniz, Falla, Rodrigo and Giuliani used the dance rhythms of Spain. The classical guitarists Andrés Segovia, John Williams and Julian Bream popularised the music through their recordings. Current popular folk musicians include Susana Seivane, Hevia and Milladoiro. A roots revival Nueva canción, which also evolved into new form of socially committed music occurred in several Spanish-speaking countries.

Portuguese music: In the 1960s and 1970s, José Afonso led a return to more traditionally styled fado music, which later evolved into a number of new song forms that incorporated socio-political lyrics and foreign influences.

English-speaking countries

Includes English and Celtic revivals
For additional Celtic music, see the French section above

Aboriginal rock
.

Ian and Sylvia.[3]

folk clubs meeting mainly in the upper rooms of public houses. Starting in the late 1960s the songs were performed in a contemporary style; this was the origin of the British folk rock
style.

Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. Later famous groups include The Dubliners (founded 1962), The Chieftains (1963), Ceoltóirí Chualann, and Clannad (1973). Later, singer-songwriters such as Christy Moore were inspired by American popular folk singers, and they took to modernizing and adapting Irish music for modern audiences. The result was a dramatic change from folk traditions, including the introduction of the bouzouki and influences including soul and rock
.

People's Festival. The Boys of the Lough
were one of the first instrumental Celtic groups to tour the world.

Appalachian folk music with the release of the 2000 motion picture soundtrack to "O Brother, Where Art Thou?".[6] Singers such as Gillian Welch and Alison Krauss and the bluegrass performer Ralph Stanley
were featured on the album.

Transnational: During the 2010s, folk-inspired acts began to score chart hits in the UK, US and beyond. Most notably the UK group

National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
award) for best album in 2013.

References

  1. ^ a b c B. Sweers, Electric Folk: The Changing Face of English Traditional Music (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 31–8.
  2. ^ "Folk Music Revival", The Encyclopedia of Music in Canada
  3. ^ Dicaire, David, The Folk Music Revival, 1958–1970: Biographies of Fifty Performers, McFarland, 2001
  4. ^ Daniels, Frank (16 January 2017). "Did Simon & Garfunkel invent "Folk Rock"?". goldminemag.com. Goldmine. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  5. ^ "Folk Rock Music Artists". allmusic.com. AllMusic. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  6. ^ Hussey, Allison (28 September 2018). "Fifteen Years Later, Bluegrass Is Still Reeling from O Brother, Where Art Thou?". indyweek.com. Indy Week. Retrieved 16 November 2018.

Further reading

General

  • Bakan, Michael B. (2007). World Music: Traditions and Transformations.
  • Bohlman, Philip V. (1988). The Study of Folk Music in the Modern World.
  • Bohlman, Philip V. (2002). World Music: A Very Short Introduction.
  • Broughton, Simon; Mark Ellingham & Jon Lusk (2006). The Rough Guide to World Music: Africa and the Middle East Vol. 1
  • Ellingham, Mark; James McConnachie & Simon Broughton (Editor) (2000). The Rough Guide to World Music Vol. 2 (Including Latin & North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific)
  • fRoots (previously Folk Roots), a specialist music magazine published monthly in the UK
  • Fujie, Linda, David Locke and Jeff Titon (2004). Worlds of Music: An Introduction to the Music of the World's Peoples.
  • Hal Leonard Publishing Corporation (1997). International Folksongs.
  • Hart, Mickey and Karen Kostyal (2003). Songcatchers: In Search of the World's Music.
  • Rosenberg, Neil V. and W. V. Rosenberg (editor) (1993). Transforming Tradition: Folk Music Revivals Examined.
  • Sandberg, Larry & Dick Weissman (1976). The Folk Music Sourcebook. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
    ISBN 0-394-49684-1
    .
  • Scully, Michael F. (2008). The Never-Ending Revival: Rounder Records and the Folk Alliance (University of Illinois Press)

Regional

  • Czulinski, Winnie (2006). Drone On!: The High History of Celtic Music.
  • Lyle, Emily B. (2001). Scottish Ballads.
  • Morrish, John, English Folk Dance and Song Society, Martin Carthy et al. (2007). The Folk Handbook: Working with Songs from the English Tradition.
  • Racy, A. J. (2004). Making Music in the Arab World: The Culture and Artistry of Tarab.
  • Rice, Timothy (1994). May It Fill Your Soul: Experiencing Bulgarian Music.
  • Rosenberg, Neil V. (1993). Bluegrass: A History.
  • Sawyers, June Skinner (2001). Celtic Music: A Complete Guide.
  • Smith, C. C. (1998). Spanish Ballads.
  • Wilentz, Sean (2005). The Rose and the Briar: Death, Love and Liberty in the American Ballad.
  • Woods, Fred (1979). Folk Revival: The Rediscovery of a National Music. Poole, Dorset: Blandford Press.
    ISBN 0-7137-0970-7
    .
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