I've started composing this more than once, in which time there have been posts that might make me seem foolish, but here goes. I am not trying to be provocative.
I have been lurking for ages, then decided to join the forum despite not owning any Naim equipment.
When I started, there was little that I read about folk music, I was prompted to write by Richard Morris posting a Martin Simpson album in “What Are You Listening To......”.
Generalising, not only in this forum, but others, magazine reviews, dealer demonstrations, hifi shows, I find music falls broadly into three genres – classical, rock or jazz. Apart from an odd reference to Sandy Denny or Simon and Garfunkle, folk music is often ignored. At the last Bristol Show more than one room declined my request to play anything outside their playlist.
Of course for many years Naim bucked this trend, most notably for me – Eleanor McEvoy.
I have only returned to music, live and recorded, in the last couple of years and because of hearing loss and tinnitus avoid large venues. Luckily, I like choral, chamber, jazz, folk.
I tend to describe folk as a genre as incestuous, many performers appear in more than one group, collaborate. As result in relatively short time I have discovered many new albums.
The title of the Martin Simpson album suggested another version of a song I know. I was wrong, but the album leaflet gives the other title, Bruton Town. I totally agree with Richard’s assessment of the album.
I suppose partly there are many definitions of what might fall into the genre, certainly the listing in Bubble UPNP or Kinsky gives some surprises!
So, a circuitous route to a listening suggestion –
The Martin Simpson album suggested to me the song The Briar and The Rose, the current version I am listening to on the album Old Adam by Fay Hield & The Hurricane Party. A different arrangement of that song can be found on the Holly Cole album Temptation, I don’t think she would be called a folk singer.
Now, Martin Simpson just happens to play on Old Adam, but that was not a deliberate choice on my part, but is does lead to suggesting you Google (other search engines are available) the other members of the band, then move on to The Full English, which in turn can lead you to Leveret – In The Round.
For me, folk music is not the 60s boom in the US, nor the finger in the ear’ole stuff from clubs of the 70s. There is a rich variety, often well recorded, electric instruments are allowed. There is as much complexity in the weaving of tunes and variations as many a baroque piece.
Comments please.
Posted on: 25 July 2017 by Bluebeard
The issue of genres is one that plagues any number of music or music replay areas. Whilst I empathize with the broader issue of folk, I find that most of my tastes end up being either unrecognizable to any database/forum/shop/magazine or subject to vaguely ridiculous sounding sub-sub-sub-sub genres (examples Takemitsu - late 20th century Japanese Avant-garde classical, Lustmord - Dark ambient, etc). Then there's things like Mbongwana Star who are either "international" on Allmusic, or Congolese Electro-Afro-Junk on some other site - neither of those really captures what the music is about. The sheer diversity of music available nowadays makes pigeon-holing (which is what genres are all about) quite difficult.
Part of the issue with folk, I suspect, is that it is - quite wrongly - seen by most people as both gentrified and archaeological. By that I mean that it is seen as bland and of the past, for these people folk is the 'he mangled her wuzzle' stuff sung at quaint county fairs - presumeably accompanied by Morris dancing... The excellent TimeOut book '1000 songs to change your life' has a brilliant essay on folk, pointing out that no other genre has quite a fascination with the dark side of human experience (murder, industry dislocation, repression, etc) making it perhaps the most relevant genre for today's world. And yet...
When it comes to auditioning, I try as many different styles as possible (including folk - at the mo probably either Emily Barker or Shirley Collins), if a dealer has a problem with my choices, then they become an ex-dealer very quickly...
regards,
Giles
Posted on: 25 July 2017 by Richard Morris
I've just taken a look at music classified as 'folk' on my UnitiServe.
A wide range - some of which was allocated by Rovi and I've not corrected, like some later Dylan.
Of the rest I see, for example, Geoff Muldaur, Greg Brown, The McGarrigles, Richard Shindell and, of course, Martin Simpson. Some of those could easily be classified as 'blues', or 'americana' or 'alt country'. So I agree with the OP - there is a wide variety of great music and I suspect some avoid the folk genre because of the reasons noted above.
Finally the post above reminded me of another great album:
A compilation of American folk tunes by a wide range of performers, from Clarence Ashley to Bruce Springsteen.
Posted on: 10 August 2017 by notnaim man
I apologise if it's not good etiquette to resurrect a post of ones own, but I just checked back in.
Richard - I agree about The Rose and The Briar, if anyone reading this remembers picking up my copy at a hifi show, i would love to have it back!
So I looked at my post, four replies, one hundred and sixty nine views. I naively thought that some of those might have gone away to listen and returned to comment.
I accept I myself have rarely commented on others posts, too busy listening. In fact, dearly beloved has commented that I spends ages moving from the forum to youtube listening to titles from other peoples posts, then a coupld of days later a cd size parcel drops through the letterbox!
So, has anyone listened? Have you enjoyed?
Posted on: 11 August 2017 by Peakman
I apologise if it's not good etiquette to resurrect a post of ones own, but I just checked back in.
Richard - I agree about The Rose and The Briar, if anyone reading this remembers picking up my copy at a hifi show, i would love to have it back!
So I looked at my post, four replies, one hundred and sixty nine views. I naively thought that some of those might have gone away to listen and returned to comment.
I accept I myself have rarely commented on others posts, too busy listening. In fact, dearly beloved has commented that I spends ages moving from the forum to youtube listening to titles from other peoples posts, then a coupld of days later a cd size parcel drops through the letterbox!
So, has anyone listened? Have you enjoyed?
I have not only listened to and enjoyed but actually bought a couple of the discs you mentioned. Apologies for the tardy reply (I was in the process of trying out various photo hosting websites to display album covers). Anyway, I found Old Adam great fun, but even better for me was The Full English which really got my foot tapping and had some imaginative arrangements (as did Old Adam). Another band in a similar vein and well worth listening to is Pilgrims' Way; I particularly enjoy Red Diesel.
As to the thread title, I think one problem with defining genres these days is fluidity of boundaries, e.g. that between Folk and World Music, even in the British Isles. If I travel a couple of hundred miles north I find myself in Scotland. If I stop and listen to a local band there, am I listening to folk or world music? Going west instead I'd be in Ireland and I am a fan of Irish fiddle player Martin Hayes and of his new group The Gloaming. Their work has deep roots in traditional music and taps into the same emotional threads as English folk music, so I tend to see it as part of one broad class of music.
Thanks again for your original recommendations.
Roger
PS I already had and liked the Leveret disc.
Posted on: 11 August 2017 by notnaim man
Roger, thanks for that, labels are difficult I agree, which record store was it that lumped anything not rock or metal into "world"? Only yesterday I found Eva Cassidy in electronica and Nina Simone in easy listening.
Checking the Pilgrims' Way site, I recognise Lucy Wright, and then there may be a connection with The Full English and Fay Hield, also a doctorate at Sheffield University.
I find both the discs that you bought as good a demonstration as many of the commonly used discs, in particular Jack Orion, Anchor Song and Awake Awake.
Alan
