In the XX century, many new musical genres emerged, which continue to develop to this day. Folk music became one of these genres.
Instructions
Step 1
The word "folk" comes from the English folk, which means people, a certain group of people and folk. Hence folk music is simply folk music. In Russian, "folk" is also an abbreviation for the broader concept of "folklore". In the modern world of music, folk are very different subgenres of music, which, in fact, are very different from each other. However, all folk music is characterized by several features: the presence of acoustic, folk instruments, specific singing and folk roots. The set of instruments depends on the region in which the music is played. And, although the term "folk" originated in the 19th century, this genre includes music composed long before that.
Step 2
There are concepts of pure folk music and commercial and classical styles. The difference between pure folklore music is that there is a lot of primitivism in it, there is no clear rhythm, and also a melody for which one string is used on some unusual exotic instrument is quite enough for it. As an example, we can cite the throat singing of Tuvans, cowboy banjo motives, and the melodies of the Armenian duduk.
Step 3
In the middle of the 20th century, both researchers and musicians became interested in what was played and performed in villages and small settlements. So the folk music genre began to form new forms that now seem familiar. In modern parlance, folk has been popularized. Now Bob Dylan, Ravi Shankar and Djivan Gasparyan can be attributed to him.
Step 4
Folk direction is very diverse. Most often it is classified according to territoriality: Irish, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Balkan, etc. In addition, such genres as: folk-rock, pop-folk, ethno-jazz, neofolk and even folk-punk appeared. In Europe and the USA, folk performers include those who themselves compose songs and sing them with a guitar. In Russia, such musicians are called bards, and they are very far from the folk genre. Such minstrels in the West have their own name - "singer-songwriter". It is also customary to add "folk" to this. And the guy with the guitar from Brooklyn is already a folk musician, but Bulat Okudzhava is not.
Step 5
For simplicity, folk can be broken down into traditional folk and contemporary folk. The traditional is that of the village and nature. If the music sounds beautiful and seems to be cleaned up, then this is modern folk. For example, the genius folk performer of our time Loreena McKennitt is modern folk, and the Chukchi-Eskimo ensemble "Ergyron" is, of course, traditional.
Step 6
The following musicians and their bands can be cited as examples of foreign folk performers: Blackmore's Night, Leonard Cohen, Dropkick Murphys, Garmarna and others. Domestic performers of folk music: Mill, Pelageya, The Darzt, Kalinov Most and others.
