MetaFilter posts tagged with folk

"It doesn't really seem that long ago."

Miko — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:52:54 -0800

Home Movies. A 1975 documentary by a young academic folklorist, exploring what it was that people were doing when they made home movies: remembering selectively, creating a "golden age." This little film looks kind of clunky these days (though I think I hear a clear antecedent of Ira Glass' delivery style in the narration of the filmmaker) , but it provoked some interesting thoughts about how little of our motivations for recording our lives has changed in the digital age, even as the ease with which we do it increases. We're still trying to preserve our lives, prevent time's motion, and create stories about ourselves.

John Prine

stavrogin — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 11:12:29 -0800

John Prine released John Prine in 1971 with the songs Illegal Smile, Spanish Pipedream, Hello In There, Sam Stone, Para dise, Pretty Good, Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore, Far From Me, Angel From Montgomery, Quiet Man, Donald & Lydia, Six O'clock News and Flashback Blues. An interview from 1971.

Old Weird Europe

huskerdont — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 10:53:44 -0800

German newspaper Der Spiegel decided to take a look at Europe's oddest folk traditions and festivals. Perhaps you can have a metaphorical hard-on for the phallus festival of Tyrnavos, Greece. Maybe you're hungry for how a small Belgian town celebrates the practice of swallowing live fish. Or, alternately, you can look down on those bizarre practices... while chasing a giant wheel of cheese down a hill. Or maybe you'd just rather celebrate the annual fireworks war of Chios or jump over a baby while wearing a silly costume. Some of the festivals are recent inventions to boost tourism; others are relics of ancient paganism that survived Christianization. What are your favorites?

Wrath of the Grapevine: The Roots of John Fahey

y2karl — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 12:33:04 -0800

So, about 9 months ago I started working on this compilation... Until yesterday, however, I hadn't seen a tracklist from the mysterious 10-cd set called the VrootzBox, so this is not a derivative work, however similar it may be...I should mention that not all of these songs are songs that he covered or copped licks from. Most of the music he has made mention to, though a few of the songs were recorded after his formative years and one or two he never would have heard. But they are presented to give an illustration of the styles he drew from (such as gamelan, which he grew up playing in his neighbor's back yard).

Wrath of the Grapevine: The Roots of John Fahey
via FaheyGuitarPlayers

Hava nagila, have two nagilas, have three nagilas; they're very small.

not_on_display — Tue, 27 May 2008 18:52:03 -0800

Claire and Merna Bagelman, better known as The Barry Sisters. Every Sunday from 1938 to 1955 on WHN in New York, they mashed Swing with Yiddish Folk as the main attraction on the radio program Yiddish Melodies in Swing.[via] "We take a tune that's sweet and low, and we rock it solid and make it gold." They are indeed a Hebrew National Kosher Classic. More Yiddish music webceptacles. It's Yiddish swing time, it's always springtime, every Sunday at 1! It's Yiddish swing time, it's dance and sing time. Come on, Let's have fun! Sit, bubbellah, and listen to some tunes on the Youtube radio. • Vi iz dus geseleh? • Coney Island • The Passover Medley • Yidl Mitn Fidl • Chiribim, Chiribom (?) and Tum Balalaika • Eshet Chail (linked to above) • Halevai (with Moishe Oysher) • Tzena • Channa from Havanna (video picture pastiche documenting Jews in Cuba) • Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head • several bits of tunes overlaid with some footage... • ...and of course, הבה נגילה (Hava Nagila)!

Luke Kelly: The Performer

PeterMcDermott — Mon, 19 May 2008 04:16:56 -0800

Casual fans of Irish folk-punk bands like The Pogues, Flogging Molly and the Dropkick Murphys rarely take the time to investigate the sources of their inspiration. Those who do, cannot avoid coming across the The Dubliners. Although the band has undergone many personnel changes during the last 45 years, but there's a sizeable contingent of fans feel that The Dubliners lost a sizeable chunk of their magic in 1984 following the death of banjo player and vocalist, Luke Kelly. Anyone interested in exploring Luke Kelly's life and work might check out the YouTube posts of superfan kellyoneill, or alternatively, the recent documentary, Luke Kelly: The Performer

Writer, musician, polymath

PeterMcDermott — Mon, 12 May 2008 07:58:21 -0800

Stan Kelly-Bootle began his career as a member of the earliest wave of computer programmers, who wrote prolifically about a wide range of computing issues. Back in his home town though, he's probably best known for his contributions to a lexicon of local slang, Lern Yerself Scouse, and for his canonical and not-so-canonical contributions to the British folk repertoire. Stan's website

and they tried to say Jerusalem's forever passed away

aihal — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:15:48 -0800

Folk/acoustic Friday: braving infatuation, heartbreak, pregnancy, Thatcherism, corporate drudgery and bad 90s hair, these artists come bearing gifts. It was the first Scots Gaelic song in the top 40; unfortunately, by the time of Coisich, A Ruin's 1992 release, Capercaillie still hadn't had their hair cut since the 80s. Never mind; despite being pregnant with eventual twins, Cara Dillon is immaculately coiffed, and nails old standby P Stands for Paddy on the Blackstaff Sessions. Somewhat less glamorous surroundings, but Thea Gilmore's You and Frank Sinatra suffers not at all from being performed in her front room. For those of you who like your folk with added social commentary, Barry Coope, Jim Boyes and Lester Simpson deliver some good old lefty-folk polemic, revisiting Blake's Jerusalem in biting three-part harmony and asking the eternal question: why am I a soldier?, while Martha Tilston takes acoustic aim at the banality of office life, and Chumbawamba (yes, that Chumbawamba)'s cover of the Bee Gees' New York Mining Disaster plays as an eerie lament to a vanished way of life. Still, at least the blackleg miner need fear no more... It isn't all doom and gloom, however; Suzanne Vega tells the story of her first romance, and Maddy Prior flirts outrageously with the camera during this glorious 1976 performance of All Around My Hat. Until next time, fare thee well, and if you miss your way home, well, just follow the heron.

I'm kind of homesick for a country to which I've never been before.

The Jesse Helms — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 14:04:42 -0800

Frank Newsome leads the congregation at the Little David Church in Hayside, Va. Old Regular Baptists, they sing the way people sang when they first came to the American colonies: without instruments or notation, and following their leader line by line. It's called lined-out hymnody, and people outside the southern Appalachian Mountains rarely hear it. One of the songs Newsome sings at services is a hymn about longing for heaven, called "Beulah Land."

Do You Like American Music?

Miko — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 07:54:59 -0800

Sounds of America is a new monthly streaming audio program, a collaboration between the National Museum of American History and Smithsonian Global Sound. Up now are 3 episodes: African-American music in New Orleans, Women in American Music, and Freedom Songs of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement.