Folk is the name for a music style for originally English traditional music. Folk can be translated as folk music, but mostly the Anglo-American folk music is meant. An important characteristic of the music is the use of traditional musical instruments such as violin, tin whistle, banjo, accordion (or accordion) and the like. As a music genre it emerged in the fifties, and flourished in the eighties and seventies to the present. Artists in the genre are Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Joan Baez, Iain Matthews.
The genre is somewhat related to singer / songwriter music, blues and country and is often performed acoustically and not electrically. The guitar tuning sometimes comes with this form of music as well as blues, deviating from the most used EADGBE tuning.
Folk in the Netherlands and Flanders
In Flanders, the genre is revived by people such as Bobbejaan Schoepen, Herman Dewit (‘t Kliekske), De Kadullen, Walter De Buck, Hubert Boone (De Vlier, Brabants Volksorkest), Alfred Den Ouden and initially partner Kristien Den Hollander and certainly Wannes Van de Velde. By these folk musicians from the very beginning, bagpipes, hurdy-gurdy and all kinds of other instruments are also re-built into models from the past.
The genre also speaks in the Netherlands with groups and soloists such as Anois, Dommelvolk, Father Mouscron, Rapalje, Mallemoer, Tangarine, Blue Dew, Wolverlei, Kenneh and Ygdrassil.
Some are balancing on the vague border of folk and cabaret, such as Willem Vermandere and Gerard van Maasakkers; and in a later generation Marc Hauman. On the same border, Dirk Van Esbroeck, De Vaganten and De Elegasten are evolving, making their own music with existing poems. Amorroma plays contemporary traditional music / folk with poems written by Jowan Merckx himself, the founder of the Amorroma group.
A number of these groups extend the mechanism of contemporary folk music to the Dutch language area, adding old musical instruments such as bumblebee, bagpipes and hurdy-gurdy. An important stimulus comes in the seventies of the Fungus group, which is inspired by British folk rock groups such as Fairport Convention. At the end of the seventies, the Dutch folklevival, which had started in the late sixties, is experiencing its temporary climax with numerous festivals, including the Rotterdam Folk Festival. The revival then collapses for a long time, certainly compared with Flanders.
Here too, the genre is rather marginal in the 1980s, but thanks to folk stages that are first organized in Galmaarden and later in Gooik, the interest in folk music grows back and many young people feel attracted to it again. The second folkrevival began in the 1990s.
The record label Wild Boar Music is founded by Folkcorner Den Appel from Asse, Erwin Libbrecht from Kadril takes over later. Because of this record label, Flemish folk is placed on the national and international map for the first time.
The repertoire is greatly expanded on the one hand by new compositions in the traditional style and on the other by research from old sources. Hubert Boone finds a wealth of dance music with the last fanfare ballmusicians, and Walter De Buck brings Karel Waeri and the social battle of the 19th century back to the spotlight. The Brussels cafe singer Jan De Baets is covered by ‘t Kliekske and by Wannes Van de Velde but also by Johan Verminnen; Wannes also digs in the repertoire of Frans Lamoen. And in the person of Dree Peremans the VRT updates historical sources, in the project The Songbooks.
From this follows a large bloom for the folk with fixed values such as the group Kadril, Ashels and Fluxus and younger groups such as Ambrozijn, AedO, Laïs, Tref, Griff and many other groups. In the Netherlands, Wè-nun Henk was founded around that time. Live music, however, is very important for the folk. The importance of programmers such as ‘t Smiske (Asse), Muziekcentrum Dranouter (Dranouter) and’ t Ey (Belsele) for the new folkrevival can not be underestimated. Early focal points of folk activity in Flanders included Den Heksenketel in Antwerp, t Keyhole in Haren, De Zon in Dranouter. Folk folk in Flanders can also be seen in the many folk festivals (Na Fir Bolg, Folk Festival Ham, Labadoux, Brosella, Deerlycke Folk Festival, M’Eire Morough, Feestival / now Gooikoorts and the many concerts and dance balls that are organized. Flanders Dranouter is still the biggest festival that pays attention to folk.
There is also a newer phenomenon: folk balls. Under the name Boombal these are organized in Ghent since 2000, originally by accordionist Wim Claeys, and from there the phenomenon spread over Flanders, where in many cities there are balls every month. In the Netherlands folkbals are also organized, but still on smaler scale. Recently, many young groups have also emerged including Dr Eugène, Embrun, Naragonia, Magister, especially around the folk balls, and often grown from the courses and internships in Gooik. In the Netherlands Folkwoods is the most famous folk festival, every second weekend of August.
Documentaries
Folk Britannia Part 2 of 3: Folk Roots and New Routes
Folk America ep01 Birth Of A Nation