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John Barleycorn reborn......dark Brittania
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Beautiful Day
Beautiful Day
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Re: John Barleycorn reborn......dark Brittania
Nov 12, 2007, 13:41
shanshee_allures wrote:
Heard King Creosote murder the soul out of 'Fine Horeseman' on the mighty Maconie show.
Totally misses the point!

Off on a tangent a bit here, butI find it strange that some things in 'folk' are considered more 'pure' and 'traditional 'than others,and that somehow there is such a thing as a year zero.
I find the bloke and the acoustic guitar the least worthy contender, as I'm sure waye backe in the daye you were more likely to hear these ballads set to instrumentation a million miles from that!

Also, dunno why, but the female voice always evokes something earthier and more elusive for me, the male ok as a backdrop. I sort of like Nic Jones tho. Now I'm ranting, so best shoosh!

x



It's such a glib term "folk" innit, and like you say guitars would have nothing to do with certain styles of music we lump under the folk umbrella. Ever see that film "Songcatcher" about a female Victorian academic who goes off and spends several months in the Appalachian mountains collecting ballads. Well there's a young girl in that who sings alot of these old hand-me-down ballads unaccompanied, many of which are of Irish and Scots origin but have evolved into something completely of their own making over maybe 200 years or so, well hearing that girl in the film pretty much sums up my own personal definition of what folk music is all about, not the style but the passing down of something, maybe through time changing to become contemporary and relevant to it's new location and maybe taking on a new meaning etc. Some might find the performances of those ballads in that film a bit sanitized, after all it was quite a mainstream film, but it sure as hell gives me a shiver down my spine when I watch and see that girl singing them tunes.
Going back to the John Barleycorn thing, I think the fella that put the comp together nailed it in a wee essay he wrote on this kind of debate called "Don't Use the F-Word" on his blog here

http://wovenwheatwhispers.blogspot.com/

Personally for me if music is good it doesn't matter where it comes from or what the genre is but more often than not when it comes to folk if it makes me want to get up and dance, or if it tugs the heart strings then it's served it's purpose for me :)
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