Folk Songs

I am saddened by the lack of folk song singing in our modern culture. We are just not interested in the old songs from our country's roots, the beginnings, the trials, the joys, the sorrows, and the events. Is it due to the immense growth in technology, the advances of the last 20 years? Is it due to the actual material that is dated, old, meaningless? Is it that we just don't sing very much anymore?

I am just not sure of the cause but am rather bored with the philosophical pontificating. Rather than trying to find an answer for the dearth in folk song singing, I think I will simply talk about my love of folk songs, a love that has waxed and waned since childhood, and a love that jumps in full force at different times and in different ways, a love that never goes away, and a love that remains an integral part of my musical life. But frankly, I do not understand why. It really makes little sense considering that one of my central theses for judgment in music is harmony. Harmonic interest, creativity, and expression tends to separate the great from the good, and the good from the poor. It separates the rock band Chicago from the rock band The Who. It separates Stevie Wonder from Ray Charles, and it separates Mozart from Salieri. Harmonic interest is the spark that makes music happen and is the element that keeps people smiling and charmed. It is the indefinable yet compelling sound that makes music fascinating.

Back to folk songs. Where is the harmonic interest? It really does not exist. Many folk songs are melody only, harmonized at the most by three repeating chords. Over and over in folk music we hear the tonic chord, the four chord, and the five chord. While most American folk songs are diatonic, we find throughout the world an emphasis on various modes. Modes do lend themselves to interesting harmony, but again even in those instances, the harmony is somewhat predictable. Harmonic shifting, one of my favorite elements in music, is pretty much non existent in folk music. Once the song begins, it is the same old repetition.

Yet in spite of this "weakness" if it is such, folk songs are a major influence on culture, on music, and on life. I believe it is the honest expression of society, of challenges, of loss and of gain, of folly and glory, and of fear, courage, and concern. Folk songs are music from real people, people with families, people who love music and wish to express themselves with music. Folk songs are joyful, sad, mournful, funny, frightening, intense, warm, and filled with passion. Folk songs are music from the heart and soul of the individual and from the heartbeat of the collective whole of the world. In many ways, folk songs say it all.

Folk songs are performed at funerals, weddings, concerts, reunions, in kitchens, in living rooms, and outdoors at parties. Folk songs are natural and in their purest state need no instruments, no complexity, no amplification or frequencies or compression. There are songs about sailing, climbing, throwing, hunting, hugging, loving, worshiping, working, and dying. There are songs about personalities, psychos, preachers, children, the elderly, the confused, and the misinformed. There are songs about every country, every culture, and virtually every experience. One can find folk songs in church, in prisons, on the mountains, and on the lakes. They are neverending and express the inexpressible. They are the lifeblood of our world.

Okay, maybe all that was overstated, particularly in today's complicated technological world. Perhaps my love of folk songs simply hearkens back to a simpler time, a time of hearing my dad sing to us while strumming his guitar. Whatever the reason, I love the songs. If you want a treat, buy the 5 cd set of Pete Seeger singing American folk songs. You won't be disappointed.