Political vs. Folk: Applications in Music
A constant struggle between classifications.
Within music, there are hundreds of different genres (1,264 micro-genres) that classify the songs that we listen to every day. In many cases, artists enjoy having more than one genre to classify their songs. Of course, this can change the overall sound, as well as the total meaning or feeling of what the artist is trying to convey. Something as simple as tone, pitch or key change specifically can put a new expression in the heads of the listeners.
The same goes for present-day life and our history before it. As far as expressive music genres go, relating to the past and to tradition, few genres are as adept at telling and re-telling stories of situations long gone, as well as the feelings associated with such events than Folk music. One could easily argue that Folk music’s primary factor by means of creation and constant existence is the passion of the creator to remember a time or keep a situation in the minds and hearts of those who they intend to listen, with applicable emotions, be it as a warning dirge or an energetic ballad. The songs of the past keep the past alive.
It is also wise to understand that all cultures have their differing histories. In doing so, not only by recognizing but also by in-depth discussion and research, it is interesting to note how different genres within that culture-and from what situations-they came to be. Interestingly enough folk music was, has been and is cultivated from cultures-even before the term “folk” was coined. In Chinese history, folk music and written history existed side by side, with the performance of such history and the songs that explained special events to the people were shown over 7,000 years ago.
As folk music follows human history, so does the nature of politics and subsequently, so does political music. Any sort of demonstrative song, protest chant, political hymn or ballad is understandably regarded as a political song. In most circles as well, political music is in the same genre as folk music. So the questions are discussed as such: what is the differentiation between the two? How is the creation of one different from the other, and how is genre growth different, even with/if their inclusion is in the same genre?
To Folk music, roots and traditions are the mainstays of the genre. The focus of the genre in large is to remember the past and anything associated with specific feelings or events. In contrast, political music is ever-changing, as politics has changed with morals and humanity in general, so has the specifics of political music. For example, Russian folk music stemmed from bards, wishing to explain the beauty of the past alongside events that were happening relative to the season, such as the harvest. The music presented by said bards was transformed into Russian rock music, which was then turned into politically-dissentious music when the time was necessary, indicated in the 1980’s due to the censorship of the Russian government of popular media. [1] Another example is the Irish Folk music-with hymns of life and love, and again, a wish for the past to be remembered: colonization by the British as far back as the 1500’s brought Protestantism to a mainly Catholic nation, creating a tension between the two sides. As folk music was created surrounding the feelings of the two, a sort of calmness and understanding was held. This would not last, unfortunately. [2]
A prime example of the two genres meshing is the impact that the United States had. Deeply kept within the identity of America is folk music, explaining the details of special events much unlike countries elsewhere. Pledges are still normal in schools and early morning intercessions are still fairly common before the continuation of the school day. Battle hymns of the American civil war are still largely remembered, and the American Military still keeps such hymns alive through monuments and core songs. However, as with the previous examples, the United States is not without it’s fair share of political music. The 1950’s were a fairly active time for the rise of political outcry and civil unrest as Sen. Joseph McCarthy waged a war against “The Red Menace” within the United States government (this is not to exclude the other major political events in the United States that may have spurned on another dissident wave or political outcry). This event bred hostility towards the event, with many becoming blacklisted and losing any sort of credibility within their realm of expertise, which would usually be any sort of Hollywood job-be it acting, producing or anything in relation to. The event would cause popular music artists of the time to fight against the government in the best way possible to them: musically. Singers and songwriters would argue against and attempt to persuade the listeners to understand their dissatisfaction, if they did not already. [3] Most notably, such songs sung during this era would be regarded as folk music, even with the politically charged nature of the music.
In conclusion and in my opinion, the genres would be understandably melded, due mostly to the fact that both frequently work off of each other: traditions’ reluctance to change as well as remembrance (Folk), and progresses’ reluctance to being silenced and proper progress being upheld (Political). By following the formula of folk music, one would eventually come to see the necessity of the political sub-genre.
Notes:
[1] Pilkington, Hilary, and Steve Ignorant. “‘If You Want to Live, You Better Know How to Fight’:: Fighting Masculinity on the Russian Punk Scene.” In Fight Back, edited by The Subcultures Network, 13–33. Punk, Politics and Resistance. Manchester University Press, 2014. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1mf700m.8.
[2] McCann, May. “Music and Politics in Ireland: The Specificity of the Folk Revival in Belfast.” British Journal of Ethnomusicology 4 (1995): 51–75. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3060683.
[3] Bromberg, Minna, and Gary Alan Fine. “Resurrecting the Red: Pete Seeger and the Purification of Difficult Reputations.” Social Forces 80, no. 4 (2002): 1135–55. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3086503.
