Community, have a go, and twitter

Right so I was asked why I like folk so much and don't give any other genre the same attention. (such as with blogging and reviewing).

First of all I do like other genres, I like Pop, Rock, Techno, Electric, Chart etc etc.

I was also asked why I like this 'weird' music.

I tried to explain that when you really think about it folk and traditional music is not weird. New music is weird. If you look at the whole of human history, folk and roots will have taken up a majority of that time period in some capacity. Chart and music today only really takes up the last one hundred years or so at most. So which is weird? The truth of course is that since chart music is now mainstream any genre different to that is weird.

I have been surprised by how many younger people are into folk. In reality a lot of young people love it, and this is growing!

To answer the question of why I like it more than other genres is because of the community aspect. In chart music you rarely find pop stars doing a show then sitting in the audience to watch the next show at a festival. With folk that happens all the time. Of course there are the elites in folk like anything else but there is much less of a gap and everyone feels more on equal ground. Folk artists are just ordinary people, generally avoiding throwing in the celebrity aspect. (Having said this I do tend to get starstruck by certain bands or artists which is a nuisance and something I really should be past now!)

Only in folk do they have this kind of 'come and have a go' attitude which has encouraged me to take up Melodeon. In the mainstream music industry it is very competitive, and although this happens in folk as well there just seems to be more space, and a bigger willingness to co-operate and get on.

Folk is not just a genre of music, it is a community. I take the title of being a folkie very seriously and much like certain metal music groups or even rap music groups there is an entire identity based around this music style. But not simply based on just music.

I really started to get into folk when I went to an Irish music session at a pub near my house. Session music is great because anyone can join in, just bring your instrument and get stuck in. It was because of this I got myself an Irish Melodeon, and I intend to join in one day when at an adequate level.

You see this a lot of twitter too. Folkies are really reaching out on twitter and are supporting each other. It's great to be part of a community that at least tries to be nice to one another.

So if you consider yourself a folkie, be proud! And keep it up! Oh and retweet this on twitter for me... you know... if you don't mind...

DFTBA