A retrospective 1971-1995

Originally the folk or regional music handed down from generation to generation, consisting of narrative songs for every state of mind and occasion: love, joy, sorrow, wedding, work, adultery, illness, death, and so on. As a result, they have a wide variety of faces, although in the West they usually refer to the North American and English variants. The dividing lines with blues, country and singer/songwriters are often thin. Folk songs are often so old that the original composer is unknown. In the thirties Alan Lomax and Harry Smith played an important role in the conservation of American folk songs. They went to the countryside to record the old folk songs. In the sixties folk revived on the basis of a young, post-war generation. Pop genres that make use of folk influences are americana, folkrock and folkmetal. The adventurous combination of folk with alternative pop that emerges after 2000 is called 'freakfolk'. more