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makes Folk, Roots and Blues sit together as a musical label? Does Country
music fit in? Would Trad Jazz or Rockabilly be off the map in these parts?
Who knows? Of course it is all extremely subjective, and mulling over it
too much could quite probably spoil the fun. Folk festivals, Blues festivals,
World Music festivals and the various combinations all have their own character
and present what has been pretty much 'non-commercial' music in a carnival
atmosphere, with much more intimate contact between the artists and the
paying public. It may well be that the incredible boom in local festivals
is a direct reaction to the crass packaging and marketing done by the large
multinationals who treat music as product, rather than artists' heartfelt
self-expression. You will not see shaped and groomed acts, tailor made for
their demographic jamming in the corner of a country showground. Expensive
costumes don't hold up long in the mud and bustle of a camping ground miles
from the nearest town. A 'Folk, Roots and Blues' festival is like a musical
rodeo. If you haven't mastered the basics and become a self reliant performer
your days are numbered. This is not to say that we're dealing with 'Hicksville'
at these festivals. The spreading of the programme over a few smaller stages
allows quality scaled down production, and then there is the charm of playing
and listening in different atmospheres on the same site. Some festivals
now have very large capacity temporary venues, testifying to the increased
popularity of this music. |
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At
the moment at least, until big business sees a profit in it, this
kind of music is relatively free of the moaning clichés and manufactured
emotion that characterise the commercial mainstream. These genuine outbursts
of creativity used to be heard only in folk clubs, saloon bars, on campuses
and around campfires. The rise of the festival circuit has meant that
artists can usefully spend time researching and writing the kind of music
that they as individuals really love. This can be their own original outpourings
in all their dazzling complexity and variety, or the lovingly collected
folk, blues and roots music from all over the globe. Opinionatedness and
dissent are on show along with experimental projects and plenty of humour.
Go out and enjoy it while it's fresh.
Al
Ward. May 2001
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