World music terminology

World music terminology is very much subject to fashion and history , with different local meanings.

From 1600 to 1900

The word "folk" was probably first used in the modern sense, by Herder in his book "Stimmen der Völker in Liedern". This was a two-volume collection of songs 1778-9. "Folk" is simply a translation of the German work "Volk". Prior to this, English music publishers used the word "Garland" for a collection of popular songs. Alan Ramsay published "The Tea-Table Miscellancy, or A Collection of Choice Songs, Scots and English" (1724-32), but the word "Miscellany" failed to catch on. The Percy Society (1840-52) tried to draw a distinction between literary confections for the middle class, and songs of the "peasantry". Printed broadside ballads were frequently a mixture of both types of song. In some cases a simple folk song was padded out with extra verses written by an in-house poet, making the distinction harder to draw. The members of the Percy Society tended to draw a distinction between "Ballads" (narrative songs, often with tragic deaths), and "popular song", with comic or fashionable catch-phrases in them.

Many members of the Percy Society were Shakespeare enthusiasts, which lead them into describing folk singers as "minstrels", and collection of folk songs as "minstrelsy". This now has a slighly embarrassing quantness about it. This use continued into the early days of the English Folk Dance and Song Society. They also used the word "troubador", a reference to the "trouveres" of southern France in the early Middle Ages. This word faded from popularly, but returned during the 1960s, when at least two notable folk clubs were called "The Troubador".

The rise of the Music hall created a forum in which publishers and performers could make a much larger profit by writing songs. This created a backlash, in which scholars such as Cecil Sharp wrote contemptuously about the effect of music-hall culture on the folk tradition, and tried hard to exclude obscenities, even when they were a genuine part of a folk song. To emphasise the difference between the "corrupt" town" songs and folk songs, he used the phrase "Country song", which now has a different meaning.

1900 to 1960

Nineteenth century nationalism created a new category of songs: "National songs", in which military heroes were praised, and local names featured prominently. For many parts of the world, the phrase "Folk song" means "National song". For instance in China there are specific music schools where musicians singers and dancers are taught a curriculum where no distinction is made between modern and traditional. Instead, the music is Chinese, or not Chinese. The earliest recordings of folk songs were made before the first world war, and sold as "Songs of the peasantry". In 1931 Percy Buck's "Oxford Song Book" was introduced to British schools and remained in the schools music curriculum for over 30 years. It was divided roughly equally between "National songs" and "Folk songs".

Rock and protest at the Grammys

At the same time as rock and roll became international, so did so-called "protest songs" , pleading for international peace and tolerance. This was a new meaning of the word folk song, and brought confusion into the terminology. The change can be charted by the words used in the Grammy Awards.

* 1959 "Best Performance Folk" (first appearance of the word "Folk" in the Grammys)
* 1970 "Best Ethnic or Traditional Recording (including Traditional Blues)" (first appearance of "Traditional")
* 1987 "Best Traditional Folk Recording"
* 1987 "Best Contemporary Folk Recording"

We can see that "Folk" disappeared from the awards in 1970, to be replaced by "Traditional". In 1987 there were two awards - one for "Traditional Folk" and one for "Contemporary Folk". By this stage it was becoming necessary to find a new phrase to denote popular music from before 1914. Curiously, James Taylor was classed as "Pop" in the 1977 awards ceremony. In 1983 French folk music (Alan Stivell) was first nominated. In 1984 both Zydeco and polka records were nominated for a Grammy. By 1990 music from around the world was eligible.

Reggae and after

In the mid-60s the word "Bluebeat" was used to describe what we now call Reggae. By the 80's "Roots" was increasingly used to cover both Reggae and other music genre styles such as blues. In addition the indigenous music of the Caribbean and the third world was recognised both in popular culture and in scholarly circles. At a meeting in London in the 1980s, music promoters decied to adopt the marketing phrase World music to promote music outside Europe and America. Even Indian classical music (sitar ragas) become "World", though most scholars would regard it as concert hall music rather than bar-room music. Stores such as HMV and Zavvi (Virgin) now have sections divided by nationality, in the "World Music" section of larger stores. Reggae and contemporary folk are now usually part of the "Rock and Pop" section. HMV and Zavvi continue to distinguish between "Folk" and "Country", though most stores now classify them together as "Folk and country". Magazines such as "fRoots" review albums by African, South American and Asian artists, alongside traditional folk musicians.

Bibliography

* Colin Larkin: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (2007) (5th ed)