Defining Folk Music

The definition of folk music is difficult to put into words; it means something different depending on who you ask. Some people define it in rather specific terms, such as Bruno Nettl, who clearly presents what he thinks folk music is and isn't, such as: folk music is communal creation and not individual, oral not written, folk not concert or primitive, non- specialist not professional, simple not complex, functional not non- functional, and participatory not passive. To others, the definition of folk music is more laissez- faire than Nettl's. To Louis Armstrong, "all music is folk music." To Ani DiFranco, "there's no pomp and circumstance to the [folk] performance. There's no, like, 'I'll be the rock star, you be the adulating fan.'" To Sonny Terry, "It's the closest music to our humanity - it's like a folk music that rises up out of a culture." To Johnny Rotten, “the genuine roots of culture is folk music.” And, to Brownie McGhee, folk music is “music of just plain people.” The culmination of these definitions and more are, to me, what folk music is and what it represents. It can be interpreted, listened to, and defined by anyone, and those definitions can vary from person to person. For some, it’s all encompassing and for others it’s exclusive. Folk music is, essentially, community. Folk music serves as a catalyst to the bringing together of people, it’s more relatable than classical or opera and has a meaning easier to discern than tribal music.

 

For me, if someone believes they are performing or listening to folk music, then they are. Nettl’s categories are too specific, they limit what folk music is, and what it can mean to people. Although there are some restrictions, for example, classical music is clearly not folk music, folk music is more intrinsically defined. If a song or piece of music someone hears makes them feel connected to a larger community and they feel they are welcome and belong in that community, then that music is folk music for them.

 

Perhaps one of the best personal examples I have to define folk music is my experience at Bethel Woods Center for Performing Arts on the day of Richie Havens’ memorial. Richie Havens opened Woodstock with his improvised performance of “Freedom,” he has always said he felt a personal, spiritual connection with the Bethel Woods site of Woodstock so, when he passed away in April, his family arranged for a mix of his ashes and flower petals to be spread over the performance hill on August 18^th. Throughout the day, there were performances inside by many musicians who knew and loved Richie, but, outside on the field that Woodstock took place on, there was a drum circle led by Juma Sultan (Jimi Hendrix’s Woodstock percussionist) and Richie’s longtime percussionist. During the drum circle, Juma and company had drums anyone was allowed to grab and join in the circle. My friend and I each grabbed a drum while my dad played a drum he had brought. We sat in this circle of strangers and played music on the drums in remembrance and celebration of Richie’s life for about an hour. It was, for me, the epitome of folk music. I felt connected to these people I didn’t know and was making beautiful folk music with them, even though I, like most of the people in the drum circle, had no experience playing drums. After the circle, we had a picnic on the field and listened to the other performers, then it was time for his ashes to be scattered. While the plane containing the ashes circled overhead, the drum circle started up again. As the plane kept circling, the tempo of the drums increased, becoming increasingly forte, building and building until the ashes were released, then they faded out, and it was over. Being a part of this community, celebrating the same person, hearing people say “peace” and “love” to one another, and making beautiful music with experienced and inexperienced strangers, gave me the sense of community and belonging listening to folk music should give someone.

If a sense of community and belonging is elicited, that’s folk music. Yes, some of Nettl’s categories are accurate, distinguishing folk from classical, but I think they’re too narrow- minded. The drum circle fits more closely with his definition of “primitive” music, but to me it felt like folk music. The message in Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” is geared more for listeners of the 1960’s than myself, so I cannot be “participatory,” but it’s still folk music. Bob Dylan’s songs were written by himself, not passed down in an oral tradition or created by a community, but they’re still folk music. Folk music is much simpler than these specific categories, it is a personal feeling and perception of a piece of music, not a checklist of categories.

Below is a picture of my friend and me with Juma on the field!