Philip V. Bohlman
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195178326
- eISBN:
- 9780199869992
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195178326.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music
This chapter is the first of several in the first section of the book (“Places of Jewish Music”) that locate Jewish music on the landscapes of European modernity. Rather than treating the village as ...
More
This chapter is the first of several in the first section of the book (“Places of Jewish Music”) that locate Jewish music on the landscapes of European modernity. Rather than treating the village as an isolated place, in which folk music was limited only to Jews, the chapter reveals processes of change and transition. Jewish folk music facilitated and was the product of border crossing, particularly from a concern with the mythical past and to an historical engagement with the present. Jewish folk music practices and repertories were vastly different across Europe, weaving vernacular languages and myths together, while conveying distinctive cultural identities. The chapter includes numerous case studies of Jewish villages in the German Rhineland, on the borders of France, Germany, and Switzerland, and in rural Moravia and Romania. The “Seven Holy Cities” (sheva kehillot) of Burgenland, border region shared by Austria and Hungary, provide at rich set of specific case studies.Less
This chapter is the first of several in the first section of the book (“Places of Jewish Music”) that locate Jewish music on the landscapes of European modernity. Rather than treating the village as an isolated place, in which folk music was limited only to Jews, the chapter reveals processes of change and transition. Jewish folk music facilitated and was the product of border crossing, particularly from a concern with the mythical past and to an historical engagement with the present. Jewish folk music practices and repertories were vastly different across Europe, weaving vernacular languages and myths together, while conveying distinctive cultural identities. The chapter includes numerous case studies of Jewish villages in the German Rhineland, on the borders of France, Germany, and Switzerland, and in rural Moravia and Romania. The “Seven Holy Cities” (sheva kehillot) of Burgenland, border region shared by Austria and Hungary, provide at rich set of specific case studies.
Ryan André Brasseaux
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195343069
- eISBN:
- 9780199866977
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195343069.003.0005
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This chapter deconstructs Cajuns’, and Cajun music’s, folk categorization. It analyzes three separate interpretations of folk culture as espoused by influential public intellectuals. Alan and John ...
More
This chapter deconstructs Cajuns’, and Cajun music’s, folk categorization. It analyzes three separate interpretations of folk culture as espoused by influential public intellectuals. Alan and John Lomax’s famed ethnographic folklore excursions through the American South, with a focus on the individuals and cultural contexts that informed the Depression era Cajun musical landscape, open the chapter. The first Cajun musicians to perform on a national stage at Sarah Gertrude Knott’s National Folk Festival are also included in this study as an example of Cajun music’s attachment to contemporary trends in the public consumption of folklore and the genre’s attachment to the American national project. William Owens’ little know field excursions are then used to demonstrate the perpetuation of Cajun music’ folk categorization.Less
This chapter deconstructs Cajuns’, and Cajun music’s, folk categorization. It analyzes three separate interpretations of folk culture as espoused by influential public intellectuals. Alan and John Lomax’s famed ethnographic folklore excursions through the American South, with a focus on the individuals and cultural contexts that informed the Depression era Cajun musical landscape, open the chapter. The first Cajun musicians to perform on a national stage at Sarah Gertrude Knott’s National Folk Festival are also included in this study as an example of Cajun music’s attachment to contemporary trends in the public consumption of folklore and the genre’s attachment to the American national project. William Owens’ little know field excursions are then used to demonstrate the perpetuation of Cajun music’ folk categorization.
Derek B. Scott
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195309461
- eISBN:
- 9780199871254
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195309461.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Taste is a social rather than private matter, and can be used as a marker of superiority, a taste for the “refined” over the “vulgar”. By the second half of the 19th century, a distinction had arisen ...
More
Taste is a social rather than private matter, and can be used as a marker of superiority, a taste for the “refined” over the “vulgar”. By the second half of the 19th century, a distinction had arisen between “art music” and “popular music”, even if not expressed in exactly those terms. The gap between art and entertainment was caused primarily by an intense dislike of the market conditions that turned art into a commodity. Non-serious music was perceived as that which did not tax the mind and was consumed merely as an amusement, usually alongside the distractions of talking, laughing, or dancing. The idea of a second-class light music provided critics with a means of condemning any music that bore the signs of the popular — features they regarded as fashionable and facile (leicht meaning “easy” in German), rather than progressive and serious — whether or not such music enjoyed success in the market place.Less
Taste is a social rather than private matter, and can be used as a marker of superiority, a taste for the “refined” over the “vulgar”. By the second half of the 19th century, a distinction had arisen between “art music” and “popular music”, even if not expressed in exactly those terms. The gap between art and entertainment was caused primarily by an intense dislike of the market conditions that turned art into a commodity. Non-serious music was perceived as that which did not tax the mind and was consumed merely as an amusement, usually alongside the distractions of talking, laughing, or dancing. The idea of a second-class light music provided critics with a means of condemning any music that bore the signs of the popular — features they regarded as fashionable and facile (leicht meaning “easy” in German), rather than progressive and serious — whether or not such music enjoyed success in the market place.
Ben Harker
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265390
- eISBN:
- 9780191760440
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265390.003.0008
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Communists loomed large in the first decade of Britain's post-war folk music revival, and cultural historians have been quick to suspect a central Communist Party cultural policy co-ordinating ...
More
Communists loomed large in the first decade of Britain's post-war folk music revival, and cultural historians have been quick to suspect a central Communist Party cultural policy co-ordinating activity. This chapter revisits the folk revival's communism, unsettling the received narrative. It challenges the usual periodization, which finds the revival's origins in the post-war period, by restoring to view pre-war communist engagements with folksong. It argues that once the revival was underway in the 1950s, the relationship between the Communist Party leadership and individual folk activists such as A. L. Lloyd and Ewen MacColl was more conflicted and removed than the standard narrative implies. At the same time, distinctly communist ideas about social formations, class, and oppositional culture became a co-ordinating common sense for the revival's left flank, taking on a new lease of life in the context of the emerging folk music scene.Less
Communists loomed large in the first decade of Britain's post-war folk music revival, and cultural historians have been quick to suspect a central Communist Party cultural policy co-ordinating activity. This chapter revisits the folk revival's communism, unsettling the received narrative. It challenges the usual periodization, which finds the revival's origins in the post-war period, by restoring to view pre-war communist engagements with folksong. It argues that once the revival was underway in the 1950s, the relationship between the Communist Party leadership and individual folk activists such as A. L. Lloyd and Ewen MacColl was more conflicted and removed than the standard narrative implies. At the same time, distinctly communist ideas about social formations, class, and oppositional culture became a co-ordinating common sense for the revival's left flank, taking on a new lease of life in the context of the emerging folk music scene.
Britta Sweers
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195174786
- eISBN:
- 9780199864348
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195174786.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
As a re-evaluation of Bob Dylan's folk rock performance at Newport highlights, one central controversy of fusion music has been centered on the relationship between traditional and popular music. ...
More
As a re-evaluation of Bob Dylan's folk rock performance at Newport highlights, one central controversy of fusion music has been centered on the relationship between traditional and popular music. This discourse becomes especially apparent in the broader historical background of the partly strongly interrelated folk music revivals. The subsequent historical overview thus sketches the different Folk Revivals in America (1930s-1965) and American Folk Rock (1965-1970) and the Second British Folk Revival (1950s/60s), including the Skiffle Craze and the development of the folk club scene, which has strongly shaped the discourses regarding electric folk. As the focus of this study is set on electric folk from its emergence in the mid-1960s until its disappearance in the late 1970s, later developments after the re-emergence in the 1980s are only briefly sketched.Less
As a re-evaluation of Bob Dylan's folk rock performance at Newport highlights, one central controversy of fusion music has been centered on the relationship between traditional and popular music. This discourse becomes especially apparent in the broader historical background of the partly strongly interrelated folk music revivals. The subsequent historical overview thus sketches the different Folk Revivals in America (1930s-1965) and American Folk Rock (1965-1970) and the Second British Folk Revival (1950s/60s), including the Skiffle Craze and the development of the folk club scene, which has strongly shaped the discourses regarding electric folk. As the focus of this study is set on electric folk from its emergence in the mid-1960s until its disappearance in the late 1970s, later developments after the re-emergence in the 1980s are only briefly sketched.
Anthony Ashbolt and Glenn Mitchell
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265390
- eISBN:
- 9780191760440
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265390.003.0011
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, and into the 1960s decade of rebellion, the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) developed significant relationships with cultural and artistic movements. The youth wing ...
More
Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, and into the 1960s decade of rebellion, the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) developed significant relationships with cultural and artistic movements. The youth wing of the CPA, The Eureka Youth League (EYL), played a particularly important role in the attempt to forge an alliance between musicians and communism. First through jazz, and then through two folk music revivals, the EYL sought to use music to recruit members and to foster its ideological and political struggles. In the end, the EYL's and CPA's relationship with both jazz and folk was tenuous. Yet along the way, the music itself flourished. This, then, is a story of tensions between and paradoxes surrounding the Party and musicians sympathetic to it. Yet it is also a story about how the cultural life of Australia was greatly enriched by the EYL's attempt to use music as a political tool.Less
Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, and into the 1960s decade of rebellion, the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) developed significant relationships with cultural and artistic movements. The youth wing of the CPA, The Eureka Youth League (EYL), played a particularly important role in the attempt to forge an alliance between musicians and communism. First through jazz, and then through two folk music revivals, the EYL sought to use music to recruit members and to foster its ideological and political struggles. In the end, the EYL's and CPA's relationship with both jazz and folk was tenuous. Yet along the way, the music itself flourished. This, then, is a story of tensions between and paradoxes surrounding the Party and musicians sympathetic to it. Yet it is also a story about how the cultural life of Australia was greatly enriched by the EYL's attempt to use music as a political tool.
Juniper Hill
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199568086
- eISBN:
- 9780191731044
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199568086.003.0006
- Subject:
- Psychology, Music Psychology, Social Psychology
This chapter focuses on one of the most fundamental sociocultural determinants of creative activities: ideology. Drawing from ethnomusicological ethnographic research, it examines differing cultural ...
More
This chapter focuses on one of the most fundamental sociocultural determinants of creative activities: ideology. Drawing from ethnomusicological ethnographic research, it examines differing cultural belief systems, values, and attitudes that may restrict, inhibit, encourage, or liberate musical creativity. It presents six case studies that demonstrate widely varying beliefs and conventions concerning musical creativity. They are: Venda traditional music from South Africa; pre-1970s Suya ceremonial music from Mato Grosso, Brazil; Western Classical and Romantic art music as studied and performed in Western Europe and North America in the late 20th century; American post-revival folk music; Finnish contemporary folk music; and festival music of the Aymara-speaking indigenous people from Conima, Peru.Less
This chapter focuses on one of the most fundamental sociocultural determinants of creative activities: ideology. Drawing from ethnomusicological ethnographic research, it examines differing cultural belief systems, values, and attitudes that may restrict, inhibit, encourage, or liberate musical creativity. It presents six case studies that demonstrate widely varying beliefs and conventions concerning musical creativity. They are: Venda traditional music from South Africa; pre-1970s Suya ceremonial music from Mato Grosso, Brazil; Western Classical and Romantic art music as studied and performed in Western Europe and North America in the late 20th century; American post-revival folk music; Finnish contemporary folk music; and festival music of the Aymara-speaking indigenous people from Conima, Peru.
Britta Sweers
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195174786
- eISBN:
- 9780199864348
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195174786.003.0003
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
A hybrid revival genre like electric folk illustrates the difficulty of a strict separation of art, folk, and popular music. This is also corroborated by a deeper analysis of the relationship between ...
More
A hybrid revival genre like electric folk illustrates the difficulty of a strict separation of art, folk, and popular music. This is also corroborated by a deeper analysis of the relationship between electric folk and traditional English music. This chapter starts out with a picture of traditional music as depicted by the collectors of the First Revival, Cecil Sharp in particular, whose definition was also adapted by the International Folk Music Council in 1954. Issues discussed here include: the ideal of a “pure” English folk music tradition, the separation of traditional music from popular/commercial music, the disappearance of the tradition, exclusiveness of oral transmission, the ideal of unaccompanied singing, editorial changes and notational aspects. Discussing several modern controversial perspectives on the relationship of traditional and popular music, including Dave Harker, Karl Dallas, Alan Lomax, and Simon Frith, the chapter argues for more a flexible application of the various concepts.Less
A hybrid revival genre like electric folk illustrates the difficulty of a strict separation of art, folk, and popular music. This is also corroborated by a deeper analysis of the relationship between electric folk and traditional English music. This chapter starts out with a picture of traditional music as depicted by the collectors of the First Revival, Cecil Sharp in particular, whose definition was also adapted by the International Folk Music Council in 1954. Issues discussed here include: the ideal of a “pure” English folk music tradition, the separation of traditional music from popular/commercial music, the disappearance of the tradition, exclusiveness of oral transmission, the ideal of unaccompanied singing, editorial changes and notational aspects. Discussing several modern controversial perspectives on the relationship of traditional and popular music, including Dave Harker, Karl Dallas, Alan Lomax, and Simon Frith, the chapter argues for more a flexible application of the various concepts.
Rachel Harris
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197262979
- eISBN:
- 9780191734717
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197262979.003.0006
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music
This chapter examines the changes in Sibe folk music during modern times in China. It traces the brief history of musical reforms and the use of music in social reforms in Çabçal in the twentieth ...
More
This chapter examines the changes in Sibe folk music during modern times in China. It traces the brief history of musical reforms and the use of music in social reforms in Çabçal in the twentieth century from the restrictions of the Cultural Revolution to the contemporary soundscape. The chapter considers Sibe shamanic ritual music on the national stage and the state of contemporary shamanic ritual in Çabçal. It argues that although a great deal of energy has been devoted to the reform and control of Sibe folk music in the twentieth century, wider issues of social change brought about by the Chinese Community Party (CCP) have played the decisive role in the changing patterns of musical behaviour and the impoverishment of Sibe folk music over the past few decades.Less
This chapter examines the changes in Sibe folk music during modern times in China. It traces the brief history of musical reforms and the use of music in social reforms in Çabçal in the twentieth century from the restrictions of the Cultural Revolution to the contemporary soundscape. The chapter considers Sibe shamanic ritual music on the national stage and the state of contemporary shamanic ritual in Çabçal. It argues that although a great deal of energy has been devoted to the reform and control of Sibe folk music in the twentieth century, wider issues of social change brought about by the Chinese Community Party (CCP) have played the decisive role in the changing patterns of musical behaviour and the impoverishment of Sibe folk music over the past few decades.
Britta Sweers
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195174786
- eISBN:
- 9780199864348
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195174786.003.0009
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
In order to discuss modern revival and fusion processes from a broader perspective, this chapter presents the case study of the New St. George, an American English electric folk band. The interview ...
More
In order to discuss modern revival and fusion processes from a broader perspective, this chapter presents the case study of the New St. George, an American English electric folk band. The interview with band leader Jennifer Cutting adds a relativizing angle to the specific situation of a hybrid music band, such as the musical selection process, the performance situation, and the business side. As the specifically marginal situation of American English bands reveals, hybrid bands often have to work with compromises much stronger than the dominant “Celtic” scenes, which can fall back on a much broader local and global network. While thus appearing as a highly specific genre, English electric folk is nevertheless also being revealed as a highly influential genre — be it with regard to the more successful “Celtic” branch — yet also with regard to folk rock approaches in neighboring countries like Scandinavia.Less
In order to discuss modern revival and fusion processes from a broader perspective, this chapter presents the case study of the New St. George, an American English electric folk band. The interview with band leader Jennifer Cutting adds a relativizing angle to the specific situation of a hybrid music band, such as the musical selection process, the performance situation, and the business side. As the specifically marginal situation of American English bands reveals, hybrid bands often have to work with compromises much stronger than the dominant “Celtic” scenes, which can fall back on a much broader local and global network. While thus appearing as a highly specific genre, English electric folk is nevertheless also being revealed as a highly influential genre — be it with regard to the more successful “Celtic” branch — yet also with regard to folk rock approaches in neighboring countries like Scandinavia.
Britta Sweers
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195174786
- eISBN:
- 9780199864348
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195174786.003.0008
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
This chapter argues that a modern revival of traditional music is accompanied by a shift in the sociocultural network of which the original music had been a part. Traditional and revival cultures ...
More
This chapter argues that a modern revival of traditional music is accompanied by a shift in the sociocultural network of which the original music had been a part. Traditional and revival cultures thus often represent two completely different sociocultural environments. Likewise, many English revivalists did not grow up in a traditional, but rather an American musical environment, which was also imitated and adapted. Yet, becoming increasingly part of a global mainstream, many — strongly influenced by A. L. Lloyd and Ewan MacColl — subsequently started to rediscover English music as a counter-identity. The modern re-adaptation process was also shaped by the use of modern mass media, which led to a broad selection process. Yet many musicians developed an intensive and conscious relationship to the tradition. While political issues also played a central role, traditional music was especially taken as a strong means of cultural identity within a globalized context by these musicians.Less
This chapter argues that a modern revival of traditional music is accompanied by a shift in the sociocultural network of which the original music had been a part. Traditional and revival cultures thus often represent two completely different sociocultural environments. Likewise, many English revivalists did not grow up in a traditional, but rather an American musical environment, which was also imitated and adapted. Yet, becoming increasingly part of a global mainstream, many — strongly influenced by A. L. Lloyd and Ewan MacColl — subsequently started to rediscover English music as a counter-identity. The modern re-adaptation process was also shaped by the use of modern mass media, which led to a broad selection process. Yet many musicians developed an intensive and conscious relationship to the tradition. While political issues also played a central role, traditional music was especially taken as a strong means of cultural identity within a globalized context by these musicians.
Britta Sweers
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195174786
- eISBN:
- 9780199864348
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195174786.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
In the 1960s and 1970s, British musicians rediscovered traditional folk ballads, fusing the old melodies with rock, jazz, and blues styles to create a new genre dubbed “electric folk” or “British ...
More
In the 1960s and 1970s, British musicians rediscovered traditional folk ballads, fusing the old melodies with rock, jazz, and blues styles to create a new genre dubbed “electric folk” or “British folk rock.” This revival featured groups such as Steeleye Span, Fairport Convention, and Pentangle, and individual performers like Richard Thompson and Shirley Collins. While working in multiple styles, all were making music based on traditional English song and dance material. After reasonable commercial success, electric folk disappeared from mainstream notice in the late 1970s, yet performers continue to create it today. This multi-layered analysis explores electric folk as a cultural phenomenon, commercial entity, and performance style. Drawing on rare historical sources, contemporary music journalism, and first-hand interviews, the book argues that electric folk resulted from both the American folk revival of the early 1960s and a reaction against the dominance of American pop music abroad. In this process, the musicians turned to traditional musical material as a means of asserting their British cultural identity. Yet, they were less interested in the “purity” of folk ballads than in the music's potential for lively interaction with modern styles, instruments, and media. This book also delves into the impact of the movement on mainstream pop, American rock music, and neighboring European countries.Less
In the 1960s and 1970s, British musicians rediscovered traditional folk ballads, fusing the old melodies with rock, jazz, and blues styles to create a new genre dubbed “electric folk” or “British folk rock.” This revival featured groups such as Steeleye Span, Fairport Convention, and Pentangle, and individual performers like Richard Thompson and Shirley Collins. While working in multiple styles, all were making music based on traditional English song and dance material. After reasonable commercial success, electric folk disappeared from mainstream notice in the late 1970s, yet performers continue to create it today. This multi-layered analysis explores electric folk as a cultural phenomenon, commercial entity, and performance style. Drawing on rare historical sources, contemporary music journalism, and first-hand interviews, the book argues that electric folk resulted from both the American folk revival of the early 1960s and a reaction against the dominance of American pop music abroad. In this process, the musicians turned to traditional musical material as a means of asserting their British cultural identity. Yet, they were less interested in the “purity” of folk ballads than in the music's potential for lively interaction with modern styles, instruments, and media. This book also delves into the impact of the movement on mainstream pop, American rock music, and neighboring European countries.
Gianmario Borio
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265390
- eISBN:
- 9780191760440
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265390.003.0013
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
From the early 1960s through to the mid-1970s, a widespread desire on the Italian left to resist the ‘schematization of everyday life’, triggered by the pressures of politics and mass media, led to a ...
More
From the early 1960s through to the mid-1970s, a widespread desire on the Italian left to resist the ‘schematization of everyday life’, triggered by the pressures of politics and mass media, led to a politicization across different musical genres. The discourse of intellectuals and artists was significantly influenced by the writings of the founder of the Italian Communist Party Antonio Gramsci, and in turn led the PCI of the early 1970s to an unambiguous commitment to resist ‘any impulse to identify with any specific “poetics” or “tendency”,...to ignore the great variety of creative experiences’ (Giorgio Napolitano), whilst affirming a faith in innovation and renewal as the vehicle for oppositional sentiment. This chapter examines this complex cultural network as it manifested itself in the distinct musical terrains of folk music, rock, jazz, and free improvisation, and avant-garde music theatre.Less
From the early 1960s through to the mid-1970s, a widespread desire on the Italian left to resist the ‘schematization of everyday life’, triggered by the pressures of politics and mass media, led to a politicization across different musical genres. The discourse of intellectuals and artists was significantly influenced by the writings of the founder of the Italian Communist Party Antonio Gramsci, and in turn led the PCI of the early 1970s to an unambiguous commitment to resist ‘any impulse to identify with any specific “poetics” or “tendency”,...to ignore the great variety of creative experiences’ (Giorgio Napolitano), whilst affirming a faith in innovation and renewal as the vehicle for oppositional sentiment. This chapter examines this complex cultural network as it manifested itself in the distinct musical terrains of folk music, rock, jazz, and free improvisation, and avant-garde music theatre.
Robbie Lieberman
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265390
- eISBN:
- 9780191760440
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265390.003.0010
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
At the height of the McCarthy era, a period that marked the low point of both communism and peace activism in the United States, the communist left continued to promote its ideas about peace through ...
More
At the height of the McCarthy era, a period that marked the low point of both communism and peace activism in the United States, the communist left continued to promote its ideas about peace through song. Beginning with the Progressive party campaign of 1948, communists and their supporters sang their opposition to U.S. Cold War policies and promoted brotherhood among men, usually in those (male) terms. Intense anticommunism limited the impact of songs written and disseminated by ‘people's artists’ in the early Cold War years. Nonetheless, their work had an impact in the long run despite the repressive era in which they sang. Through hootenannies and records, and in the pages of publications such as Sing Out!they kept alive a movement culture that influenced the next generation of musicians, whose peace songs reached a popular audience in the 1960s.Less
At the height of the McCarthy era, a period that marked the low point of both communism and peace activism in the United States, the communist left continued to promote its ideas about peace through song. Beginning with the Progressive party campaign of 1948, communists and their supporters sang their opposition to U.S. Cold War policies and promoted brotherhood among men, usually in those (male) terms. Intense anticommunism limited the impact of songs written and disseminated by ‘people's artists’ in the early Cold War years. Nonetheless, their work had an impact in the long run despite the repressive era in which they sang. Through hootenannies and records, and in the pages of publications such as Sing Out!they kept alive a movement culture that influenced the next generation of musicians, whose peace songs reached a popular audience in the 1960s.
Peter van der Merwe
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780198166474
- eISBN:
- 9780191713880
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198166474.003.0011
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter introduces the main concern of the book: the interaction of ‘rude’ (‘folk’), ‘vulgar’ (‘popular’), and ‘polite’ (‘art’) music, from about 1760 on. It deals, first, with the ...
More
This chapter introduces the main concern of the book: the interaction of ‘rude’ (‘folk’), ‘vulgar’ (‘popular’), and ‘polite’ (‘art’) music, from about 1760 on. It deals, first, with the differentiation of these categories at this period, then with the neoclassical ethos and its ideal of the simple, natural, and (as we should now say) ‘accessible’, all of which entailed a new attitude to popular music. Whatever its ideals, in practice neoclassicism was highly eclectic. Its music made constant use of the popular, habitually setting it off against the learned.Less
This chapter introduces the main concern of the book: the interaction of ‘rude’ (‘folk’), ‘vulgar’ (‘popular’), and ‘polite’ (‘art’) music, from about 1760 on. It deals, first, with the differentiation of these categories at this period, then with the neoclassical ethos and its ideal of the simple, natural, and (as we should now say) ‘accessible’, all of which entailed a new attitude to popular music. Whatever its ideals, in practice neoclassicism was highly eclectic. Its music made constant use of the popular, habitually setting it off against the learned.
Ernie Lieberman
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265390
- eISBN:
- 9780191760440
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265390.003.0003
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Ernie Lieberman grew up in the midst of the folk revival that took place during the Depression, World War II, and the Cold War. This chapter describes how folk music came to be important to the ...
More
Ernie Lieberman grew up in the midst of the folk revival that took place during the Depression, World War II, and the Cold War. This chapter describes how folk music came to be important to the American left, the issues on which they focused (union organizing, racial and gender equality, peace), and Lieberman's own participation in the movement. As a child in the 1930s, he admired Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie, and sang folk and protest songs at summer camp, Progressive party conventions, and on tours for the Civil Rights Congress. In the 1950s, he performed and recorded albums with the first interracial folk group, and later, as political folk music began to reach a wider audience, became a songwriter.Less
Ernie Lieberman grew up in the midst of the folk revival that took place during the Depression, World War II, and the Cold War. This chapter describes how folk music came to be important to the American left, the issues on which they focused (union organizing, racial and gender equality, peace), and Lieberman's own participation in the movement. As a child in the 1930s, he admired Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie, and sang folk and protest songs at summer camp, Progressive party conventions, and on tours for the Civil Rights Congress. In the 1950s, he performed and recorded albums with the first interracial folk group, and later, as political folk music began to reach a wider audience, became a songwriter.
David Manning
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195182392
- eISBN:
- 9780199851485
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195182392.003.0060
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Folk music is one of the good things of this world which, like freedom, health, and prosperity, one values most when one is in danger of losing it. There is, however, no need for despondency, for the ...
More
Folk music is one of the good things of this world which, like freedom, health, and prosperity, one values most when one is in danger of losing it. There is, however, no need for despondency, for the very agencies that have been the enemies of folk music are being pressed into its service, as is shown by the International Catalogue of Recorded Folk Music. Through the processes of mechanical recording, folk music is not only being preserved but is being made available for study and enjoyment by a wider circle than has ever before been possible. The printed or written notation on which one has hitherto had to rely gives one the form and substance of folk music; but, however accurate it may be, it cannot portray all the subtle nuances of intonation, rhythm, and ornamentation that give the style and character of the folk musician's art.Less
Folk music is one of the good things of this world which, like freedom, health, and prosperity, one values most when one is in danger of losing it. There is, however, no need for despondency, for the very agencies that have been the enemies of folk music are being pressed into its service, as is shown by the International Catalogue of Recorded Folk Music. Through the processes of mechanical recording, folk music is not only being preserved but is being made available for study and enjoyment by a wider circle than has ever before been possible. The printed or written notation on which one has hitherto had to rely gives one the form and substance of folk music; but, however accurate it may be, it cannot portray all the subtle nuances of intonation, rhythm, and ornamentation that give the style and character of the folk musician's art.
David Schneider
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520245037
- eISBN:
- 9780520932050
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520245037.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
It is well known that Béla Bartók had an extraordinary ability to synthesize Western art music with the folk music of Eastern Europe. What this study makes clear is that, contrary to much prevailing ...
More
It is well known that Béla Bartók had an extraordinary ability to synthesize Western art music with the folk music of Eastern Europe. What this study makes clear is that, contrary to much prevailing thought about the great twentieth-century Hungarian composer, Bartók was also strongly influenced by the art-music traditions of his native country. Drawing from a wide array of material, including contemporary reviews and little known Hungarian documents, the author presents a new approach to Bartók that acknowledges the composer's debt to a variety of Hungarian music traditions as well as to influential contemporaries such as Igor Stravinsky. Putting representative works from each decade beginning with Bartók's graduation from the Music Academy in 1903 until his departure for the United States in 1940 under a critical lens, the author reads the composer's artistic output as both a continuation and a profound transformation of the very national tradition he repeatedly rejected in public. By clarifying why Bartók felt compelled to obscure his ties to the past and by illuminating what that past actually was, the book dispels myths about Bartók's relationship to nineteenth-century traditions and at the same time provides a new perspective on the relationship between nationalism and modernism in early-twentieth century music.Less
It is well known that Béla Bartók had an extraordinary ability to synthesize Western art music with the folk music of Eastern Europe. What this study makes clear is that, contrary to much prevailing thought about the great twentieth-century Hungarian composer, Bartók was also strongly influenced by the art-music traditions of his native country. Drawing from a wide array of material, including contemporary reviews and little known Hungarian documents, the author presents a new approach to Bartók that acknowledges the composer's debt to a variety of Hungarian music traditions as well as to influential contemporaries such as Igor Stravinsky. Putting representative works from each decade beginning with Bartók's graduation from the Music Academy in 1903 until his departure for the United States in 1940 under a critical lens, the author reads the composer's artistic output as both a continuation and a profound transformation of the very national tradition he repeatedly rejected in public. By clarifying why Bartók felt compelled to obscure his ties to the past and by illuminating what that past actually was, the book dispels myths about Bartók's relationship to nineteenth-century traditions and at the same time provides a new perspective on the relationship between nationalism and modernism in early-twentieth century music.
Richard Wolf (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195331370
- eISBN:
- 9780199868087
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195331370.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music
This book argues that the largely top-down orientation of many globalization studies has the potential to marginalize and undermine the study of many traditions that do not circulate in the manner of ...
More
This book argues that the largely top-down orientation of many globalization studies has the potential to marginalize and undermine the study of many traditions that do not circulate in the manner of many of today's commodities. What does it mean, it asks, for musical activities to be local in an increasingly interconnected world? What are the motivations for theoretical thought, and how are theoretical formulations instigated by the needs of performers, agents promoting regional identity, efforts to sustain or counter gender conventions, or desires to compete? To what extent can theoretical activity be localized to the very acts of making music, interacting, and composing? Long-term ethnographic studies of regional music traditions and face-to-face interactions hold great value for communicating fundamental processes of music making that characterize regions and civilizations as well as those that extend beyond traditionally conceived borders. This book is an attempt to rethink the music of one large region, South Asia, in light of the many diverse regional practices that have now been studied for many decades by scholars across the disciplines. The book uses comparative microstudies to cross the traditional borders of scholarship and region—extending from Nepal to India, India to Sri Lanka, Pakistan to Iran—and to gain new footing for the study of South Asian musical traditions in the understanding of 21st-century music of the world.Less
This book argues that the largely top-down orientation of many globalization studies has the potential to marginalize and undermine the study of many traditions that do not circulate in the manner of many of today's commodities. What does it mean, it asks, for musical activities to be local in an increasingly interconnected world? What are the motivations for theoretical thought, and how are theoretical formulations instigated by the needs of performers, agents promoting regional identity, efforts to sustain or counter gender conventions, or desires to compete? To what extent can theoretical activity be localized to the very acts of making music, interacting, and composing? Long-term ethnographic studies of regional music traditions and face-to-face interactions hold great value for communicating fundamental processes of music making that characterize regions and civilizations as well as those that extend beyond traditionally conceived borders. This book is an attempt to rethink the music of one large region, South Asia, in light of the many diverse regional practices that have now been studied for many decades by scholars across the disciplines. The book uses comparative microstudies to cross the traditional borders of scholarship and region—extending from Nepal to India, India to Sri Lanka, Pakistan to Iran—and to gain new footing for the study of South Asian musical traditions in the understanding of 21st-century music of the world.
David Manning
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195182392
- eISBN:
- 9780199851485
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195182392.003.0058
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter discusses Ralph Vaughan Williams's address to the Fifth Conference of the International Folk Music Council. The English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) exists for the purpose of ...
More
This chapter discusses Ralph Vaughan Williams's address to the Fifth Conference of the International Folk Music Council. The English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) exists for the purpose of preserving and disseminating the folk songs and dances of England in their traditional forms. However, the disseminators and the preservers do not always see eye to eye. The disseminators are so anxious that the whole country should take a practical part in the discoveries that they are sorely tempted to put quantity in the place of quality. The preservers, on the other hand, are too apt to allow folk song and dance to become a dead art, an affair of libraries and dry discussion. Williams has no quarrel with popular music, but he does feel that the International Council should confine itself to what is truly traditional.Less
This chapter discusses Ralph Vaughan Williams's address to the Fifth Conference of the International Folk Music Council. The English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) exists for the purpose of preserving and disseminating the folk songs and dances of England in their traditional forms. However, the disseminators and the preservers do not always see eye to eye. The disseminators are so anxious that the whole country should take a practical part in the discoveries that they are sorely tempted to put quantity in the place of quality. The preservers, on the other hand, are too apt to allow folk song and dance to become a dead art, an affair of libraries and dry discussion. Williams has no quarrel with popular music, but he does feel that the International Council should confine itself to what is truly traditional.
